


Sanity Not Included

by InsomniacFlaaffy



Category: Gorillaz
Genre: Alternate Universe - SCP Foundation, But Still Uses Canon Events, Canon SCPs, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Non Canon SCPs, Phase One (Gorillaz), SCP Elements, it's kind of a crossover?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:53:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25755406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsomniacFlaaffy/pseuds/InsomniacFlaaffy
Summary: A strange child arrives at Kong Studios and Noodle immediately attaches to him, no longer being the only kid around. But the child hides many secrets that even he doesn't know. There is one clear question though: why does he look like Russel? Soon, the Gorillaz are in deeper trouble than they are usually in...
Relationships: Noodle (Gorillaz)/Original Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. Another FedEx Crate

**Author's Note:**

> Like with Padded Feet and Drumbeats, this was an old story I created and now revised to make better and to match my current level of writing. I hope you guys enjoy and feedback is always welcomed!

It was the middle of April in Essex. A heavy rainstorm showered the trashy city which covered the afternoon sky in thick, dark gray clouds. The rain poured hard on the roof of Kong Studios, loud enough for the residents within the mansion to hear. The usual murder of crows that flew over the graveyard/landfill fled for shelter before the storm came. The zombies slumbering in their graves would still rise after the sun set, no matter the weather over their undead heads.

Within the depths of the mansion, each male member of Gorillaz kept themselves in their rooms. This left Noodle all alone and yearning for some attention. She couldn’t go outside and explore without one of the boys watching her. And the weather didn’t look like it was going to let up any time soon. So, she was trapped in his godforsaken mansion with nothing to do. Everyone was too busy to give her some kind of entertainment.

Busy, busy, busy; it was all she heard come from the men’s mouths these days. This made Noodle upset. To express her anger towards them, Noodle began a vow of silence and had ignored them for a day and a half now. They never noticed her sudden quietness. This had Noodle steaming with rage. She stomped off to the lobby to get as far away from the men. She plopped herself on the couch, propped her feet on the cushions (without taking off her shoes), and pulled her Gameboy out from her jacket pocket. She turned on her Pokémon game and mashed the buttons furiously through battles. How dare they ignore her like she didn’t exist. A wave a sadness hit her, replacing her burning rage. She just wanted a friend to play with and talk to. Though the language barrier kind of made all sorts of communication difficult.

The monotone ring of the doorbell echoed through the still air of the lobby. Noodle unglued her eyes from her game at the sudden noise to look at the dusty, glass double doors. There was a young adult man outside the door, progressively getting wetter with each passing second, wearing a white uniform. He had a clipboard in his hands, trying to keep it dry with his arm. What Noodle noticed was the large crate on a red trolley next to him. She wasn’t supposed to open the door for strangers but what he had looked important. Noodle hopped off the couch and pushed the door open outwards, letting the man hurry himself and the crate inside the dry mansion. Water droplets dripped off the man and the wooden crate onto the tile floor.

“Sweet bullocks,” the man commented, wringing the water out of his shirt and waving the clipboard to dry the papers on it. “This rain in bloody murder, ain’t it?” He knelt to Noodle’s eye level. His eyes glanced over at his clipboard once then twice then returned his sight on the girl. “Alright, girlie, I’m going to have you sign these papers because there seems to be no adults around and I want to get the hell outta here,” the man said. He flipped the clipboard around to face Noodle and removed a ballpoint pen from the rim of his hat, handing it to her.

Noodle didn’t say a word and took the pen in her right hand. She signed the dotted line at the bottom in Kanji then handed the pen back to the man. He didn’t check over the papers and shoved the pen back on his hat. The man dumped the crate onto the floor with a heavy thud. He took the trolley and exited the building, driving off into the rainy afternoon. Now, Noodle was face to face with the unknown crate.

The crate was a tall as Noodle was and labeled by the same company her own crate was delivered by: FedEx. There was no return address on the label from what she saw. Her reading English wasn’t the best, but she could read well enough with practice. On the damp, plastic covered label, the name that the crate was delivered to was Russel. This made Noodle think for a bit. She was curious as to what the man could have ordered. He always talked about getting more rare records to add to his collection. Perhaps it was those records inside the crate?

It made Noodle’s interest grow and a mischievous smile pulled on the corners of her mouth. He didn’t have to have these records, did he? The lid of the crate was on too tight for her fingers to pry it off and it was too heavy for her to lift it. How could records be so heavy? A plan popped into Noodle’s head at that exact moment.

Noodle hopped into an attack stance and gave the crate the hardest crane kick she could muster with her strength. The crate fell over on its side with a loud crash against the tile. A piece of broken crate plank flew off the lid and hit the door leading to the basement. Noodle bit her tongue; that wasn’t supposed to happen. She ran over to the front of the crate and frowned at the sight. There was good sizeable horizonal hole in the lid. Curious, Noodle crouched and peered through the hole with one eye. She could hear shuffling inside and saw something moving the shadows. Was it an animal? It wasn’t strange for Russel to order exotic animals online. She gently knocked on the crate twice.

There was a knock in reply.

Noodle squinted her eye to see little better. Suddenly, a white eye peered back at the girl. She gasped in fright and fell on her backside. There were giggles coming from the creature and Noodle pouted. They did that on purpose! But that meant a person inside, just like she had been several years ago. Noodle’s fingers gripped the broken plank and she pulled with all her might. The plank easily ripped away from the crate and the person kicked another plank, which Noodle jumped out of the way as it hit the basement door also. Noodle dropped the board to the floor and waited in front of the crate.

A young boy, no older than Noodle, wiggled himself out of the hole they together created. He fell out the crate when his whole body escaped the confines of the box, rolling over and landing on his backside. He was naked except for a pair of black spandex shorts. His hair was a messy bird’s nest of black hair that reached the middle of his back. Noodle could see his ribs poking out through his brown skin from malnutrition. Blueish-black bruises and track marks decorated his arms and back. A yellow cattle tag was attached to his left earlobe with the number 23 written in faded black ink. The boy had a black simian tail connected to the base of his spine. His milk white eyes wandered, looking at everything in the lobby with curiosity.

Noodle edged closer to the boy. “Um, hallo?” Noodle greeted in broken English nervously. She waved her hand to get the boy’s attention. Was he friend or foe? Noodle was unsure and kept her guard up.

The boy and his tail perked up at Noodle’s voice. He smiled wide, baring his teeth at her and his eyes narrowed with contentment. He looked at his hand then mimicked the motion that she made. “Hiiii…” he said, stretching out the word. The boy raised his arms over his head and yawned. His joints and bones popped and cracked as a result. He got to his feet and looked over at Noodle. He was about a head taller than the girl. Without warning, the boy began to circle Noodle. He raised her arm and sniffed at her skin. He lifted the back of her jacket and fitted his head under the jacket next to her back. Noodle squealed and snatched her jacket away, glaring at him. He then lifted her radio helmet off her head and put it on his own head.

“Give back!” Noodle whined, reaching on her tiptoes for her helmet.

Seeing the frustration on her face, the boy put the helmet back on her head. He frowned and tucked his tail between his legs. “Sorry…” he said, lowering his head. “No mad at me…?”

Noodle fixed her helmet’s placement and brushed the hair out of her eyes. She gazed at the boy and realized that she never even introduced herself. She waved her hand again, grabbing the boy’s attention once more. Noodle pointed to herself. “I am Noodle,” she said.

“I am Nudill?” the boy repeated, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

“Hai!” Noodle agreed happily. “I am Noodle!”

Noodle then pointed at the boy. “Name?” she asked.

The boy turned his sight away from Noodle and scratched at his cattle tag, not saying a single word.

“Noodle, you okay?” the voice of 2D called out from the basement stairwell. His footsteps became louder as he drew closer to the door. “I thought I heard something break up there…”

The sound of a different person’s voice frightened the boy. He fled and wiggled himself back into the familiar confines of the FedEx crate. He watched the door across the room open and a man emerged from the depths of the basement. His skin was pale like his stayed inside too long, short purple head on his head, and his onyx eyes were never-ending black holes in his head. The man was tall, which intimidated the boy and he crawled further from the hole in the lid.

2D walked over to Noodle. He was immediately barraged by fast pace Japanese from the girl. Noodle could barely contain her excitement.

He covered Noodle’s mouth and said, “Slow down, Noodle. I can’t understand what you’re saying.”

Grabbing the man’s hand, Noodle pulled 2D over to the partially open crate. She made him bend down so he could look inside the gap in the lid.

Noodle knocked on the crate twice again then paused for a moment. She didn’t know the boy’s name, but she was quick on her toes as she always was. “Zero,” Noodle called into the box. She knew nothing about the boy, so she picked a name that reflected the unknown.

Zero’s fingers curled around the wooden board below the hole and his eyes stared at the two people in front of him. He was confused by the name. “Zero?” he questioned.

Noodle nodded her head quickly and pointed at him. “Hai! You are Zero!” she said with a smile on her face.

“I am Zero…” he said, still a little confused. Then he proudly declared, “I am Zero!” Yet, he hadn’t left the safety of his box home.

“Zero,” Noodle called his new name again in a cheerful tone to coax the boy out of hiding. “2D friend, no scared.”

There was a moment and Zero gradually crawled out the hole but kept his eyes glues on 2D. In worry, the boy clutched a greyish stuffed cat close to him. The cat was worn and grimy yet, it had a happy smile on its face. It was also missing a black button eye. Zero’s tail wag to and fro; the sight of it amused Noodle but shocked 2D. He had never seen a human with a tail before, only in movies and the like. 2D glanced over to the damaged FedEx then back at the bizarre child. A thought began to form in 2D’s vacant mind. It caused the little hamster in his brain to wake from its slumber and it started running on its wheel. Then it hit him like one of Murdoc’s many punches to the side of the head. His eye widened and he blinked several times.

He looked similar to Russel.


	2. Skinwalker

2D pondered on the thought of Russel being a father. It wasn’t like him to have one-night stands with random groupies or women, like himself or Murdoc. But, then again, were there any other reason why the boy looked like Russel? Outside of his thoughts, 2D wore a blank expression on his face and continued to stare off into nothingness. The hallow stare made Zero feel uncomfortable and he held his stuffed cat closer to his chest.

Noodle waved her hand back and forth in front of the man’s face, calling his name a few times. All her attempts were in vain. 2D was a lost cause when he started thinking about complicated matters. His mind hamster seemed to call it quits already.

The girl abandoned 2D and grabbed ahold of Zero’s free hand. She smiled up at him, large and wide. In a stroke of luck, she finally had someone her age to play with! Noodle rubbed her chin. What should they do together? Play a game? Or watch a movie? Zero’s stomach growled, almost on cue, and Noodle knew what they could do in an instant. Plus, she never even had lunch.

“Zero want noodles?” Noodle asked.

“Nudills?” Zero replied, a bit confused.

Noodle nodded her head quickly. “Hai, food!”

Zero’s eyes grew large. “Me been a good boy? Me get food?” He paused then his lips pulled up into the biggest grin. “Food, food, food!” he chanted with excitement, bouncing up and down.

Noodle led Zero to the lift’s door and pushed the up button to call it. The metal doors creaked open and the boy froze in place. He stared at the open lift with his tail between his legs. He didn’t understand how the lift came to be. Was it a magic portal to another world? Or was it a metal monster ready to feed on his flesh? Noodle had to drag Zero into the lift by the arm as the boy dug his heels into the floor. During the ride up, the boy pressed himself against wall. By how hard he was pushing himself against the wall, Noodle thought Zero was going to faze through it.

The smell of cooked ham and beef noodles made Zero’s mouth water. He had never smelled something so wonderful in his life. He was always given this grey paste on a tray to eat for the few days he could eat. Zero watched Noodle hard at work with their meals from on top of the refrigerator. His legs swung over the edge as he waited patiently. Noodle was old enough to make her own meals, so using the stove wasn’t that difficult. She turned off the burner, removed the small pot from the heat, and carefully poured the pasta into two large bowls. Noodle cracked two eggs on the bowl’s rim and dropped the gooey contents on top of the steaming noodles. Like magic, the clear goop solidified and turned white.

“Ooo…” Zero gasped, tightening his grips on the refrigerator and waggling the tip of his tail. He leaned forward a little to get a better look.

Noodle threw in some garlic and minced onions on top of the eggs. She smiled at her masterpieces; the meal looked too perfect to eat. She served the bowls one by one on the table, took as seat, and motioned Zero to take a seat also. His tail twitched and he wiggled his backside, preparing his next move. He leapt from the refrigerator like a cat and landed on the stool’s cushion. He grabbed ahold of the table to balance himself and the stool back on his four legs.

Settling in his seat, Zero picked out a piece of ham and shoved it in his mouth. Zero’s eyes went wide and they sparkled as he chewed. So juicy and tasty; it was like a flavor explosion in his mouth. This was what he was missing, what those people were keeping him from. Zero sat his stuffed cat on the table and started to eat his meal with his fingers.

“No!” Noodle shouted, setting her chopsticks down.

Zero stopped in his tracks, fingers hovering over the bowl. Did he do something wrong?

“This,” she said, taking a fork off the table then handed it to the boy. “Fork.”

Zero took the utensil and stared at it. “Fo-rk?” he said. He held it in between his index finger and thumb then gave it a wiggle.

Zero looked at Noodle with her chopsticks and looked at his fork again. The objects weren’t the same, but they did the same thing, Zero realized. He dipped the pointed end into the soup and lifted it up, grabbing some noodles and a bit of egg white. He shoveled the food into his mouth, slurping up the noodles loudly. The hot broth trickling down his chin was wiped away with the back of his hand as he chewed quickly. Zero ate his meal an drank down the broth in lightning speed. When he was finished, he set the bowl down on the table and let out a satisfied sigh. It was nice to feel full.

“Thank yew, Nudill!” Zero said happily. He was taught before that saying ‘thank you’ made people happy.

Noodle smiled back and continued eating her food.

Zero’s mind began to wander as he waited for his new friend to finish. He looked around the room. Who knew the outside world was so different from the Facility? The Facility…The memories of that horrid place came back to the boy, causing his lips to curve down in a deep frown. He lowered his head. He had to tell someone about his pain he went through.

“Um,” the boy said as he searched for the right words. “Me trust Nudill, yes? Hear story, listen good?”

Noodle nodded and she smiled again with her cheeks full of food.

That smile; it comforted him a little. But where should he start at? His mind held a fair amount of information, like names and simple commands. It made his head hurt trying to remember the bits and pieces of the past years that still lingered. But slowly, the puzzle pieces fit back together and made the full picture.

White Coats: a term he coined for the people that ‘cared’ for him because of the long white coats they wore. They stabbed him with pointed things filled with strange water. It made him sick with each different water they put in him. They denied him food for long periods of time. They did it especially when he didn’t follow orders or failed to complete a test. He was locked away inside a metal chamber and slept on the cold floor every night. His sleep was haunted by voices of the fallen souls with the Facility. Then there were the Orange Suits; people who wore orange clothes and interacted with him. Zero knew these people weren’t like the White Coats but they bullied him at the orders of the White Coats. He sometimes ended up hurting the Orange Suits to stop them from messing with him.

But at the end of it all, there was one person that made some of the pain go away. A woman with hair as red as fire but that’s all he could remember of her. Zero always referred to the woman as ‘Momma’ as she was the nicest out of all the White Coats. She loved him for all the imperfections he had, and he loved her back. Now she wasn’t here to enjoy the freedom of the outside world with him.

Zero began to twist his tail in his hands nervously. His thoughts immediately went to the dark end. Those White Coats told everyday that he was a failure and he believed them. How could anyone love a failure? It was his own fault that he was tortured for so long. His fault that the only person who did love him was stuck with those White Coats. Rage coursed through his veins and he clenched his jaw tight. He hated his useless self. He could have stopped the pain, hurt all those stupid White Coats, but he was too scared to. He was surely a failure.

Zero grabbed his empty bowl and chucked it across the room with all his might. The ceramic bowl shattered into pieces as it connected with the opposite wall. Noodle jumped at the loud noise and looked over at Zero, causing her chopsticks to slip from her hand.

His chest heaved with every angry breath he took. His eye twitched and his tail lashed about. Zero then began to sob without tears. The last tears he cried had fallen so long ago. Noodle sat in silence nearby.

“Zero…” Noodle whispered the boy’s name. Her heart ached for him after she heard his story.

“What the bloody hell is making all that damn wailing?” A shirtless Murdoc said as he stood in the kitchen doorway, glaring at the two children. “And who the hell is this kid?” He said, motioning at Zero.

A shiver ran up Zero’s spine at the sight of the older man. He could feel the negativity that radiated off the man’s tan skin. “Evil man!” Zero screeched, pointing at him. He took Noodle’s half eaten bowl of food, and raised it over his head, shaking from head to toe in fright. The evil man was going to take him back to the White Coats. He wouldn’t let him do that, not now, not ever. “Go away, evil man!” He threw the bowl at Murdoc before Noodle could step in.

Murdoc grasped the doorknob and quickly closed the door. The bowl smashed against the wood and the food splattered all over before it slid to the floor. “You’ve got 5 seconds to –” the older man ordered as he opened the door but stopped talking when a wooden stool came flying towards him. Murdoc ducked and the stool brushed the top of his head then bounced off the floor a few feet behind him. He stood up, fuming, “Stop that throwing –” Murdoc began to say but was cut off again by a barrage of kitchenware. Knives, pots, and chairs; how much shit was in that kitchen? The bangs and clangs ceased after several minutes of the assault. Murdoc poked his head through the doorway while keeping the rest of his body behind the wall.

The boy was on top of the refrigerator again, hissing at Noodle who stood at the bottom. “Zero,” the girl called his name. “Come off. Murdoc good…” Noodle’s statement trailed off when she remembered he did push 2D down a flight of stairs just yesterday. ‘Good’ was stretching it a bit far. He was tolerable, at the least.

His back arched. His tail stood erected and bristled. Zero bared his teeth at her. “Nudill lie! Part of White Coats! No friend! Lie, lie, lie!” He threw his stuffed at Noodle which she avoided by moving out of the way. Zero shook his body and forth like a wet dog. His whole body blurred and his skin folded away to reveal 2D, wearing the same shorts that Zero had. “Nudill is a liar liar liar,” said the monkey tailed 2D in broken English. He hadn’t noticed the major change to his body that occurred. “Part of the White Coats…” he said in a manic daze.

Noodle furrowed her brow. Though the boy’s odd transformation confused her, she had to calm him down somehow.

Murdoc saw enough to know what this kid was. He walked briskly into the kitchen and picked up Noodle by fitting his hands underneath her armpits. Zero hissed at him and Murdoc scowled as he backed away out of the room. He hid behind the wall, out of the kid’s sight, and set Noodle down. As soon as her feet touched the floor, Murdoc grabbed her jacket’s collar with both hands.

He shook her a little. He said, “What the hell are you doing with a damn Skinwalker?” Murdoc’s voice was quiet and harsh. He didn’t want that ‘thing’ listening in to their conversation. It was clear that he was upset with her.

“Not Skinwalker, it Zero!” Noodle retorted as she struggled in the man’s tight grasp.

“Does anyone wanna tell me why half of the kitchen is out in the hall?” Russel asked, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

Murdoc jumped at the man in front of him, letting go of Noodle. “Dammit Lards, stop sneaking around like that!” He shook his head twice, “Nevermind, we’ve got a problem. There’s a Skinwalker in the kitchen and Noodle here was getting buddy-buddy with it.”

“Not Skinwalker, it Zero!” Noodle repeated.

“Little girl,” he growled through a tightly clenched jaw, fed up with hearing her voice as of now. “I think I know more about demons than you do.”

“Nuh-uh!” Noodle said in a mocking tone and stuck her tongue out at him.

“I would’ve fed you to the zombies if you didn’t play guitar…”

The larger man sidestepped around the arguing two and entered the kitchen. They would be at each other’s throats for hours and he really had no time for that. He had to see what this ‘Skinwalker’ was all about.

The ‘demon’ in question still sat on top of the refrigerator, unaware of Russel’s presence. It almost like exactly like 2D, only with minor differences that made it obvious that it wasn’t the real 2D. Its skin was pastier, limbs were elongated, hair faded from purple to black, and its hair line trailed down its spine to the base of its tail. It spoke to the one-eyed stuffed cat in whispers and hugged the ragged toy against its bare chest. The creature then picked up its head and turned around slowly towards the new person in the room. It just stared at Russel quietly. It didn’t screech, it didn’t throw things, it didn’t say a single thing to him; it just sat there and stared.

It finally talked after a few minutes of silence. “You…you,” it said perfectly in 2D’s voice. “Me know you. Momma talk about you. You got eyes like me. You know Momma, don’t you, Russoul?”

Russel felt a shiver run down his back. How did it know his name, albeit in broke English? Fear struck him and the question repeated in his head out of control. He breathed, trying to calm himself down. “Uh,” he said, hesitating. He could say no and possibly have his face ripped off or lie and spare his face. Did have any other choice? Russel rubbed the back of his neck and answered, “Yeah, sure. You can say that.”

The fake 2D smiled and said, “Good, good,” the creature’s body black and shrunk in size, reverting back to a little boy. He hopped down from his perch and landed on the floor in front of Russel. “Me stay here. Be safe. Wait for Momma…” he declared.

“What?!” Murdoc shouted and he stormed into the kitchen. “I’m not running a charity case for –” He looked at Zero, at Russel, then back at Zero. “Your freaky demon kid! Isn’t one kid running around there enough already?”

“He’s not my kid,” Russel replied flatly.

“Of course it is. You people kind of look the same anyway,” Murdoc commented with a smug look on his face, almost proud of what he said.

“Wanna say that again, cracker?” Russel growled and took a step towards him. Oh, he was going to make him eat those words.

Zero huffed and approached Murdoc, who raised a brow at the boy. With a clenched fist, Zero reeled back and punched the older man right in the groin. The boy snickered as Murdoc doubled over in pain. “Evil Man say bad thing, Evil Man gets hurt,” Zero said.


	3. Euclid

Though Russel knew absolutely nothing about the boy, he knew one single thing: Zero stunk to high heavens. Wherever he came from, they made no effort to bathe the child for months on end. He smelt as bad as the landfill during the warmer months, and that was saying something. He had to give the boy a bath and he was not looking forward to it.

Russel couldn’t get a feel for Zero’s disposition, which he always been sensitive to people’s energies. It confused him as to why he couldn’t get a read on the boy’s energy. Even with that, the boy followed his orders such as go with him to the bathroom. There was an ivory tub on the opposite side of the room near the black painted stalls. The larger man went over to the tub, turned on the hot water, and plugged the tub with a stopper. He stood off to the side as it began to fill up.

The sight of steaming hot water which magically gushed from the faucet and filled the tub amazed the little boy. His fingers curled around the edge of the tub as he peered inside with caution. Was this some kind of big cup he was supposed to drink out of? Zero shook his head and dipped a single finger into the water. No, that wasn’t it. It was too warm to drink and he removed his finger. Or was it a test to see how long he could hold his breath? His body tensed up. Zero didn’t want any part of another test. His ears and tail twitched when he heard Noodle entered the room. He turned his head to the open door.

“Nudill!” Zero said, excited.

Noodle had found an old red wagon in a storage room and had pulled it behind her as she came into the room. It was full of towels and soaps from her own collection she had. Russel noticed her presence immediately and he tightened the taps, ceasing the water’s flow. He already had all the things he needed to bathe the boy. Plus, he wasn’t sure if Zero wanted to smell girly with Noodle’s soaps and shampoos. The help was nice, though a tad bit unnecessary.

“Thanks, Noodle,” Russel said, “But I already have the things to wash Zero.”

Noodle shook her head and she said, “No, Noodle give Zero baf. You go.” She knew the boy favored her more than he did with the larger man. With one of her hands, she motioned Russel to exit the room. “Out, out.”

Russel placed his hands on his hips. “Noodle,” he said in a father-like tone. “You know I can’t let you do that. Zero is a boy and you’re a girl.” His eyes focused of Zero for a moment and the boy looked back at him quietly. Well, Russel was 90 percent sure that Zero was a boy.

But Noodle stood her ground against him. As many times as she seen Murdoc and 2D naked on many different occasions over the past 2 years, all the boy/girl stuff seemed silly to her. Why be ashamed of their bodies? Why was he trying to hide things that she already knew about? She just shrugged her shoulders at him.

“ _I think you should let Noodle give the kid the bath_ ,” Del finally vocalized himself in the deepest depths of Russel’s mind. “ _It might end badly if you do it, Russ. Not like it’s going to scar her_.”

“It’s not right, Del,” Russel said out loud and brought Zero closer to him as he knelt to the boy’s level. “It’s the principle of it all.” He reached for the boy’s waist and started to remove his dirty shorts. Russel managed to get the shorts down pass the boy’s hip bones before Del spoke up again.

“ _Man_ ,” Del whispered, “ _You might want to be careful_ …”

“Bad touch!” Zero shouted and clamped his jagged teeth down on Russel’s hand.

“Swiss fucking cheese!” exclaimed Russel as hot pain engulfed his hand. He lifted his arm in the air, picking Zero off the floor, and tugged at the base of the boy’s tail. “Let go! Let go right now!” he shouted But Zero refused to follow his order and growled at him, thrashing his body about.

“Zero!” Noodle called his name sternly. “Let go now!”

Before the boy could release the meaty hand, Russel tore him off with all his might. He held Zero by the tail like today’s fresh catch, glared at him, and dropped him to the tile floor. A large section of skin from his palm to the back of his hand was missing. Red beads of blood formed over the wound’s surface almost immediately. Zero bared his teeth at Russel. There were pieces of the man’s flesh in the boy’s mouth and he scrambled away to hide behind Noodle. He swallowed the skin down his gullet in one gulp. Both Russel and Del grimaced at the sight. What a wild child, that kid was.

“Bad Zero!” Noodle scolded. “No biting!”

“Sorry…” Zero apologized to her, tucking his tail between his legs.

 _This is a lost cause_ , Russel thought as he held his injured hand. He would just end up getting bitten even more if he continued with Zero. Maybe handing the reins over to Noodle wasn’t such a bad idea now. He picked up a small hand towel off Noodle’s little wagon and wrapped his hand in it until he could get ahold of some bandages. It was going to be a bitch to play drums on his hurt hand.

“Hey, Russ,” 2D said as he walked into the bathroom. His attention was focused on the brown rucksack and a think catalog folder in each of his hands. “This folder’s got your name on it…” He raised his head as his comment trailed off into confusion. He stared at his housemates and asked, “Do I need to leave or something?”

Russel passed the threshold of the bathroom and the taller man followed suit. “No, I was just leaving so Noodle could wash Zero,” he replied.

“What happened to your hand, Russel?” 2D asked, concerned, as he pointed at the towel.

“Zero bit me pretty hard,” he answered, almost wanting to give a sarcastic remark but held his tongue. “Broke the skin too.”

2D sucked in air through his tooth gap and cringed at the thought. “That had to hurt. I hope it doesn’t get infected. My mum always said that the human mouth is the dirtiest part of the body. Full of germs and stuff.”

“Thanks for the information, ‘D” Stuart Pot was the master of useless information while he forgot other important things like where he placed his keys. Russel looked at the items in 2D’s hands and took the folder from him. He was right. The folder did have his name on it in pen. The large loops in the letters and cursive handwriting suggested that the writer, and who mostly sent Zero here, was female. Russel waved his hand for 2D to follow him to the lift. He had to talk to Murdoc about Zero, whether he wanted to or not. The older man did have Kong Studios under his name and having the kid stay was a group decision, which meant Murdoc too.

“Who approaches?” Murdoc’s voice boomed from the dark depths of his Winnebago and it echoed throughout the damp carpark. “Who dares come towards my lair?”

2D and Russel stood in front of the Winnebago’s tagged and graffitied door. Russel answered, “Muds, open up. You’re not the Wizard of Oz. ‘D and I got something important to show and talk about.”

The man inside the vehicle gave in and let out a displeased groan. “Fine, fine,” he replied. The two men heard their leader’s weight shift from the back of the metal death trap to the front. The Winne’s loose door swung outwards, almost hitting the two men outside, and Russel and 2D climbed up into the bassist’s unholy domain. “Post haste, lads. You’re letting all the cold air in,” Murdoc said. He sat in the driver’s seat and swiveled it a bit towards the passenger’s seat. The heels of his brown boots rested on the weathered dashboard as he waited for the others to take a seat also.

Russel made himself as comfortable as he could in the tattered passenger’s seat. 2D passed by the two to sit down at the dining table, right behind the driver’s seat. When he went by, Murdoc snatched the rucksack out his hand and started to rummage through it.

“What kind of good you got here, Dents? You know that sharing is caring,” Murdoc commented. His face twisted with puzzlement as he pulled out an aged golden lyre from the bag’s insides. Several strings of the instrument were frayed, and the lyre’s golden skeleton had a few dents on its surface. Murdoc upturned the sack, dumping the contents on the floor. Heavy, hardcover books collected in a pile in front of the men. “Bah, what kind of goods are these? There’s nothing but books in there!” he said, annoyed. He let the lyre and the bag drop to the floor with the books.

2D began to pick up the books up and put them back into the rucksack. “They aren't mine, Murdoc,” he said as he shoved the lyre in the bag last and closed the flap. “I found it in the box that Zero came in.”

Murdoc’s face crinkled as if he smelt something rotten. “So, you gave that thing a name,” he spat out. “Perfect, just perfect.” Murdoc looked over in Russel’s general direction and said, “And of course your kid would have a harp, the second gayest instrument in the world. Runner up to the keyboard.” He let out a hearty cackle from his throat.

Russel ran his good hand down his face and sighed, “Muds, I told you before. He’s not my kid. I know for sure I wasn’t with anyone about 8 or 9 years ago. And that’s a lyre, not a harp.”

“Whatever and you’re right. Like who would shag your fatass?” Another cackle came from his mouth.

Russel rolled his eyes at the hurtful comment. The older man never wasted time to insult him. He had other, better things to be focused on. The folder he had was thick, full of documents that needed to be read. He opened the folder and a white letter envelope fluttered to the Winne’s dirty red carpeted floor. It also had Russel’s name on it in the same handwriting that was on the folder. He reached down to retrieve the letter, but Murdoc was faster than him.

“Yoink!” Murdoc shouted as he snagged the envelope from off the floor. With the long fingernail on his pinky, he slashed easily through the envelope’s glue seal.

“You know its illegal to open other people’s mail,” Russel warned.

“Not like I haven’t broken the law before. You should know me by now, Russel.” Murdoc said, pulling a piece of paper out the envelope. He took notice to how the letter appeared hastily written with the ink smudged in a few places and the paper was wrinkled. Clearing the disgusting gunk from his throat, Murdoc didn’t hesitate to read the letter out loud for the other men.

_Dear Mister Russel Hobbs,_

_My name is Doctor Lilith McDonald. You do not know me, but I certainly know who you are. I am a doctor of the SCP Foundation of New York State, I have studied your special case for some time now, since your childhood to the present. But that information is irrelevant to this letter as you read it now. This is about the young boy I shipped into your care: SCP-23. He was created here in the Facility and has lived here all his young life. Enclosed in this folder is data related to 23. I was 23’s caretaker to some extent and he is a sweet boy who just need some love. Sadly, I cannot provide it to him within these walls, not while they are watching me. But I am certain that you can give that sense of belonging he needs. The only thing I wanted when he was created him was his happiness. Though my colleagues here only want to use him for nefarious reasons. Please, I have no one else to trust within these walls. Soon, the Mobile Task Force will realize that I released 23 and kill me as punishment. Do not tell 23 of my ill fate. The boy’s mind is… fragile. These are my last will and testament._

When Murdoc finished speaking, the entire room was silent. 2D was slightly confused yet speechless as to what he heard. Russel was equally speechless, but his thoughts were running a mile a minute. The SCP Foundation? The Facility? Mobile Task Force? What were all those things? And what was this about ‘his case’? The thoughts were going so fast in his head that Del and his other friends were getting overloaded.

Murdoc’s lips cracked into a large smile and laughed loudly, giving his knee a slap. “Your fucking kid is a test tube baby! What a joke! No wonder he has a fucking tail!”

The laughter snapped Russel out of his trance, and he scowled at the older man. He stood to his feet, snatched the letter out of Murdoc’s hands, and stomped out of the Winnebago. His eyes narrowed as he glared at him then he slammed the door shut. Russel wasn’t sure why he was pissed at Murdoc for laughing about Zero as he returned to the lift. Zero wasn’t his kid, so why did he care so much about that comment?

_SCP-23: The Chimera_

_Class: Euclid_

“Okay, open!” Noodle commanded with excitement.

As the young girl ordered, Zero slowly opened his eyes. He was standing in front of a full body mirror with Noodle by his side. Zero started at his reflection in disbelief with his mouth slightly open.

_Description: SCP-23 is a male, African American child between the ages of 8-10. It features white eyes lacking pigment, long black hair, a simian-like tail connected to the base of the spine, and brown skin. Is refer to as ‘it’ by all except Dr. McDonald, who refers to SCP-23 with male pronouns._

All the grime that collected in dark patches on his body over the past years were gone. His skin tone was lighter and he smelt like a different array of flowers. His hair gained a new, healthy sheen to it, braided back and tied at the end with a red ribbon. Those hideous old shorts that he arrived in were gone. What covered his body was a white sundress decorated in red polka dots. It was a dress that the men bought her, but Noodle didn’t believe it looked good on her.

The ugly, yellow cattle tag which had been attached to his left ear as long as he could remember was missing. Only a large hole remained where the tag used to be. Zero turned around to observe his backside. His tail swished freely from the dress’ bottom back and forth. It was like he was a brand-new person. He felt different also, as if a weight was taken off his shoulders.

“Me a pretty boy…” Zero whispered as he turned back around to face the mirror again. “Me so pretty…” He raised his neatly trimmed fingers up and pressed them up against the glass, right on his reflection’s cheek. Zero lowered his hand and face Noodle. “Why Nudill care for me?” the boy asked. “Me a stranger.” She did all these nice things for him even though they just met! Yet, she was treating him like they had been friends forever. It confused Zero how kind Noodle was.

“’Cause!” Noodle said and held Zero’s hands in hers. A surge of electricity shot through Zero’s body as their hands touched. The sensation caused his tail to bristle and stand on end. “Um…everybody happy,” she said, fumbling and searching for the right English words. “Be happy! Russel, Murdoc, and 2D make Noodle happy! Now…Noodle make Zero happy! Give name,” Noodle grinned wide and continued, “Zero no number, Zero…er…a person!” She felt a kinship with Zero. Both had arrived at this place with no name, faint memories, and no family. They were connected by fate, it seemed.

Zero pointed to himself. “Me…a person?” He never heard himself being referred to as a person. It was either ‘Subject’ or ‘The Chimera’ by the White Coats. Even though they were completely different, Noodle saw him as her equal. He was free from the pain and torture.

Noodle saw heavy, large tears swell up at the bottom of the boy’s eyes and break containment, flowing down his cheeks like rivers. The sight made Noodle frown. She didn’t mean to upset him in any way.

Zero leapt into Noodle’s arms, who caught him automatically, and he wrapped his legs around her small waist. He buried his wet face in her shoulder, babbling through sniffles and hiccups. “Zero loves Nudill. Zero loves Nudill. Zero free…” he said during the tight embrace. Her legs couldn’t hold up all of Zero’s weight and she collapsed, landing on her bum. Zero never loosen his grip when she hit the floor. She rubbed his back while listening to him son in happiness. “Zero loves Nudill,” he repeated. “Zero loves Nudill.”

_SCP-23 was created at [REDACTED] by a team of scientists under the order of Dr. Eugene Kane from blood samples of [REDACTED] and various other mammals. SCP-23 has demonstrated the ability to transform into different people with slight defects. It shows minor control over this ability and his emotions affects who it turns into. SCP-23 has been shown to have low intelligence but strength and dexterity four (4) times more than the average human. SCP-23 has displayed to be sensitive to supernatural anomalies and other SCPs in the Facility. It has claimed to hear the whispers of spirits in a realm beyond our own._

Russel slowly closed the folder and slid down the wall to the floor next to the open door to Noodle’s room. He was eavesdropping on the two children to make sure Noodle was fine. The boy was repeating the same sentence over and over again. There was so much on this ‘kid’ and he barely scratched the surface of the thick documents. Noodle cared for the boy dearly, but he seemed to be a danger to everyone around him. All these notes claimed Zero was stranger than he looked.

“ _What’s your next move, Russ?_ ” Del’s voice asked as it wrapped around his mind. “ _Those papers seem to be telling the truth…_ ”

Russel was stuck between two places; whether to keep an abused child or banish a monster for everyone’s safety. What could he do about this now?


	4. Drugged

The downpour finally let up during the early evening and the sun was setting over the trash covered hills. The fading light gradually transformed the gray sky into a deep salmon pink. It was similar to the color of ham, Zero thought. The world around Kong Studios smelt of damp dirt from the rainfall, masking the terrible stench of old trash and rusting metal of the landfill.

Noodle and Zero sat back on the dry lawn chairs on the balcony as they quietly watched the sun lowered itself in the twilight sky. Zero had never seen such a sight in his life, only in picture books. That’s what happens when your whole life is spent inside a metal box within a secluded building. Minor things such as merely watching the sun set was a secret luxury to the boy. He would keep this precious memory forever. No one could take it away from him. No more White Coats, no more testing, no more loneliness; Zero was safe from it all.

Tears of joy welled up at the corners of his eyes. Many times, he expected to wake up from this dream an be on the cold floor, but it never happened. He was actually here. Zero sniffled and wiped his tears away with the back of his hand. He couldn’t let Noodle see him crying again.

Murdoc watched the two children from behind the closed sliding glass door with a smug look on his face. His foot tapped rhythmically against the tile floor as his yellowed eyes focused on the back of Zero’s head. That ‘kid’ wasn’t right at all. What did Noodle see in that thing, that feral beast? It could change into other people, for Satan’s sake! It has a damn tail too! It didn’t smell right either. Under the flowery crap, he could smell the harsh scent of disinfectant that clung to its skin. It was probably from the lab that thing was made in. No one seemed to notice but the smell stung his nostrils; he loathed it. Reminded him too much of those squeaky-clean hospitals. He wanted the smell out of his home.

An idea popped inti Murdoc’s head and a sly grin grew on his face. Maybe he didn’t have to deal with that thing and get rid of it at the same time. He could drug the thing, stuff it back in its box, and ship it off somewhere else. Gorillaz had only four members and didn’t have room for one more. The plan was too perfect and it’s not like Lards would miss the little demon anyway.

“Oi, Faceache,” Murdoc called out. “Give me your pills. I got a brilliant plan to save all our asses.” He scowled when he didn’t get an immediate answer and he whipped his body around.

2D was too occupied to hear the older man. He sat at the table, attempting to balance spoons on his face. If he could fit one more on the tip of his nose, it would be a personal record broken…

“2D!”

The taller man flinched at the sudden loudness of Murdoc’s voice. All of the spoons stuck to his face fell off and hit the table with a clatter. He was so close and yet so far, like always. A sigh whistled through his gapped teeth and he rested his chin on the table. “What is it, Murdoc?” he asked, defeated. “I was so close to beating my record.”

“Yeah, whatever. Now give me your pills,” demanded Murdoc with an outstretched hand.

2D lifted his head and raised an eyebrow. “What for…?” he asked. Slowly, he pulled the orange pill bottle nearby closer to him. He stared at Murdoc with shifty eyes.

“Well, keeping shit from you now won’t give me what I want,” said an annoyed Murdoc and he stepped closer to the table. “I want to use your pills to drug that little demon, so it isn’t a problem for us anymore.” Murdoc glanced over his shoulder to look at Zero, wrinkled his crooked nose, then turned his head back to 2D.

“You mean Zero? Drugging a kid is inhumane, Murdoc! You can’t do that!” retorted 2D.

The older man gave a shrug and responded, “And why not? My dad did it to me all the time and I turned out fine!” The statement made 2D scowl in disapproval. Murdoc continued, “And besides, the thing’s barely human to begin with.” He stole the bottle out of 2D’s hand, twisted the white cap off, and dumped three green and white capsules into his palm.

From the drying rack next to the sink, Murdoc picked up and placed two clean glasses on the counter. He tore open the pill castings and dumped the white powder into a single glass. A short stroll to the refrigerator produced a 2-liter bottle of store brand cola in the older man’s hand. 2D stood up from his stool and went to Murdoc, observing him pour the soft drink generously in each glass. The powder dissolved quickly in the dark soda and Murdoc stirred the laced drink with a finger. He then handed the glass to 2D.

2D took the glass and he looked at the normal drink Murdoc was holding. Curious, he questioned, “What’s the second glass for?”

“It’s for Noodle, so she doesn’t suspect a thing from us,” Murdoc said then gave 2D a stern look. “Now remember to give that thing your drink. I don’t want you fucking this up.”

“Yes, Murdoc,” 2D replied obediently.

The sound of the sliding door opening then closing behind them ended their conversation. The children had finished watching the sun set and the moon was now rising.

Zero was at 2D’s side in an instant and held the tall man’s free hand, swinging his arm back and forth. The boy’s face beamed up at 2D with a smile and he bounced on his tail with excitement. “2D, 2D! Nudill say you sing! You in band and make good music! Zero wanna hear 2D sing! Please, please? The boy pleaded.

“Um, sure you can,” said 2D, rather uncertainly. He received a throaty grunt from Murdoc, who grew impatient with their idle chit-chat. He already gave his drink to Noodle, which she drank down the soda contently. Now he waited for him to do the same with Zero.

Murdoc’s mismatch eyes bore into 2D as he began to stall. Could he really drug a child? His morals battled with his fears and his fingers started to twitch on their own. He didn’t want to get beaten to unconsciousness, again. The decision would keep him up at night. 2D pulled his hand out of Zero’s grasp, with the boy halted in his hopping and stood on his feet. He placed the glass in Zero’s hands.

Zero stood there is silence, staring at the glass. He looked at 2D then over at Noodle and her drink. Confused, Zero sniffed it. The tip of his tongue dipped into the fizzy drink and he quickly retracted it back into his mouth. It wasn’t dirty water. The liquid was sugary and it stung his tongue a little. “What is this?” asked Zero, looking up at the two adults.

Murdoc was the first person to respond. “It’s an um…good boy drink. You’ve been a good boy, haven’t you?” His voice held fake sweetness to it. A smile stretched across his face when he saw the boy’s face light up again. It took the bait like a dumb fish. Maybe the thing didn’t have to leave if he had it wrapped around his finger to do his bidding. Murdoc could certainly have fun controlling two idiots.

Zero nodded his head quickly. He said, “Me been a good boy! Good boys get good things!” then he chugged the soda down without any objection. The drink had a strange aftertaste that made his tongue feel weird. His thoughts didn’t stay on the subject for long when he remembered why he came inside. “Now Zero hear 2D sing and Nudill play!” he cheered. The boy scooped up Noodle in his arms and wrapped his tail around 2D’s wrist, whisking the two out of the room.

Murdoc lit a cigarette and returned to standing in front of the sliding door to watch zombies rise in the distance. He would give it about 15 to 30 minutes for the drugs to kick in.

____________________________

“Welcome to my humble abode,” 2D announced as he opened the door to his bedroom. The large, dented door creaked when weight was applied to it. Zero ducked and passed in between 2D’s long legs to enter the room. The boy twirled about in the middle of the room, trying to look at everything at once in amazement. 2D put his hands on his hips and beamed, “Yeah, I know. My room is pretty great. I decorated the whole place myself.”

Noodle sighed and rolled her eyes as she came into the room also. She made herself comfortable on the edge of the bed with her acoustic guitar in her lap. Zero hopped on the bed beside Noodle. His whole body vibrated with anticipation. Music, it had been such a long time since he heard music before he was put into that small crate. He remembered his Momma would play her lyre for him, but even that seemed like a distant memory. Zero could barely contain himself. It felt like he was going to explode from his skin.

He watched 2D pass by them to a large wall full of a colorful assortment of keyboard. 2D stared at his collection of hand repaired keyboards for some time before he settled for one on the lower level. He sat down on the floor in front of the children with a smile on his face.

“Oh yeah,” Zero jumped back and hid behind Noodle when 2D broke the silence and he got to his feet again. Sudden movements scared Zero. 2D went over to a chair tucked away in the corner of the room, covered in crumpled up dirty laundry that should have been done days ago. On top of the pile was the brown rucksack that he found in Zero’s crate. 2D grabbed the bag by a strap and turned to face the children. “Here’s your bag, Zero. I thought you would want it now,” he said.

Zero saw his bag before the man could turn around completely. He shifted his weight on the balls of his feet and balanced himself on the very edge of the bed. There was an itch underneath his skin, but his focus remained on his bag. Special things were inside that bag. Precious things that were giving to him by Momma. That bag belonged to him and no one else should touch it. The tall man would certainly destroy his gifts.

“Bad touch!” Zero shouted. He leapt at 2D and he exploded from his skin. Out from the young boy’s body came Murdoc, to both 2D and Noodle’s surprise. He balanced his transformed body on his tail, raised his legs, and slammed his feet against 2D’s chest which knocked the wind out of the taller man. Dirty shirts and socks flew everywhere as he landed on the clothes pile. 2D used the bag to shield his face from the onslaught of beatings while Zero turned Murdoc tried to pull the bag out of his hand.

“Gimme bag now! 2D will break gifts!” the fake, dress clad Murdoc yelled, tugging on the bag’s handle, and batted at 2D’s head with his free hand.

“I’m sorry I used your bass to unclog the toilet, Murdoc!” 2D apologized profusely. This was his defense mechanism; to just admit to all wrongdoings he did in the past week. He hoped groveling would lessen the beatings.

“Zero!” Noodle said the boy’s correct name, like an owner to their dog. “Get off 2D!” No matter what form he took, she knew he would listen to her.

Zero tore the bag out of 2D’s grasp and rolled off the man, returning to the girl’s side. 2D laid on the clothes pile in both shock in confusion for a few seconds then got back onto his feet. He was sure that this wasn’t the real Murdoc in his room. The older man wore Zero’s dress, had hair with silver streaks in it, and human legs were replaced with digitigrade legs like an animal. 2D smoothed the wrinkles out of his shirt and approached the doppelganger with caution. He couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. No one could change into other people. No real person, that is.

He poked the man’s cheek, only for the doppelganger to snap at his finger with razor sharp teeth, barely missing his index finger.

“Murdoc? Zero?” said 2D, still confused, as the older man dumped the contents of the bag on the bed. Books, papers, and various knick-knacks scattered across the bedspread, including the old lyre 2D saw before.

“Gifts fine now,” Zero said, relaxing his shoulders. As simply as he changed into another person, Zero reverted back to his normal self. He felt 2D behind him and he turned towards him, greeting the taller man with a bright smile. The boy was acting as if he didn’t just change into a different person. Zero took ahold of 2D’s hand and sat him down on his bed. “Music later. Zero show 2D and Nudill gifts!” he declared.

Much to 2D and Noodle’s surprise, Zero had some knowledge and great fascination with reading. He described the information he had learned to his two new friends. Nothing Zero said sounded like it came from a children’s book and the boy had a hard time pronouncing some words. 2D picked up one of the many green, hardcover books and looked at its cover. All the books Zero was talking about were all encyclopedias. There were books on plants, animals, and even the human anatomy. 2D and Noodle together saw something in Zero’s eyes as he continued rambling nonsense. It was the same sparkle in Russel’s eyes when he started talking about music. Both seemed to enjoy sharing what they knew with others.

“Zero,” 2D said the boy’s name. “Are you sure you don’t know Russ?”

“Um,” Zero said, wringing his tail in his hands. “Momma talk about Russoul to me. Say things that make my head hurt. Say he special like me…” Suddenly, Zero’s eyelids grew heavy and he started swaying back and forth. He looked down at his hands and bent his fingers. They felt numb and fake to him. His whole body was feeling numb and it became difficult to take in air. Nothing around him appeared real but like a fuzzy dream.

“Zero?” Noodle had gotten concerned for her new friend at his odd change in behavior. She knew he heard when the tip of his tail twitched in her direction. “Zero?” she called his name again, worried.

Zero turned to face her. He saw her mouth move but what he heard were distant whispering. The unrecognizable murmurs drowned out his thoughts and scratched the inside of his skull. It made his skin crawl as if there were bugs underneath it. He dealt with these voices before many times when the White Coats threw him back into his containment cell after testing. They still scared him now.

“Kitty,” Zero said as he began to shuffle through his things in a daze, shoving stuff into 2D and Noodle’s laps. Where did she go? She kept him safe from the bad things, but she wasn’t here. Where did he leave her? Zero shot up to his feet, searching frantically for the stuffed cat. The world spun around wildly when he stood up. Dizziness overtook him and he fell backwards. Noodle tried to grab for Zero, but she was too slow and missed his arm. All she could do was watch the boy’s descent in slow motion. The back of his head banged again the edge of the bedside table. The contents of the table fell all over the floor and so did Zero.

______________________________

“Russ, man. I don’t like how that kid feels,” said Del. His ghostly form hung out of his friend’s right ear as both men investigated the thick document papers they found in Zero’s bag. “Don’t like that kid one bit,” he repeated. “He can turn into different people! No one can do that without being messed up.”

“I know, Del. You wouldn’t stop shouting it in my damn head,” Russel replied without removing his eyes off the papers in his hands. “I don’t care for him either, but we can’t judge him because he doesn’t ‘feel’ or act right. You, of all people, should know that ain’t right.”

“What if he hurts Noodle?” the ghost asked.

Russel raised his head and looked at his undead friend. Well, he wasn’t wrong with his question. What if Zero brought harm to Noodle? No, he shook the thought from his mind. He had been reading for the past hour and a half, trying to decode these papers the doctor addressed to him. He could barely make heads or tails with these documents. Most, if not all, the entries had information blacked out or data redacted. For safety reasons, he assumed. The ‘Facility’ never wanted their records to land in the wrong hands, it appeared. What Russel managed to dig up from the tiny amount of information available to him was that the Facility captured and or made anomalies, and Zero was one of these anomalies. But why did Dr. McDonald claim that they ‘studied his case’? He had a case with these mad scientists? It was obvious Zero had some kind of connection to him but was he his son?

The distressed banging on his door halted Russel’s thoughts. Del disconnected his body from his host and zipped quickly over to the door, darting about on the floor. Not even a second passed and 2D almost kicked the door off its hinges followed by Noodle right behind him. The taller man had Zero in his arms while he held a bloodied towel to the back of the boy’s head.

“Murdoc drugged Zero with my pills in some soda pop and Zero turned into Murdoc and then he got dizzy and fell and hit his head on my nightstand and now he won’t stop bleeding!” 2D cried, rambling without taking a single breath. Noodle was just as frantic as 2D, waving her hands wildly as she spoke in Japanese.

Russel put the papers he was reading down and he got off the bed, walking over to 2D. The poor fellow was shaking from head to toe. Probably thought Zero’s injury was his fault. Russel took Zero out of the taller man’s hands and ordered, “’D, go get me an ice pack,” then faced the young girl, “Noodle, go get me a clean towel.” Both exited the room in a worried haste, leaving him and Del with Zero. He couldn’t think clearly with 2D and Noodle in a panic like that.

Zero was too medicated to bite him again or flail about in his grasp. The boy clung to Russel’s shirt like a sick koala. He was much lighter than he appeared. Russel lifted the dirtied towel from Zero’s head, parted his hair, and looked at the boy’s wound. The large gash on the back of his skull was tender but was not bleeding; ice would bring down the swelling. Zero hadn’t said a word or opened his eyes when Russel set him down on the couch. Del moved himself to underneath the coffee table to observe everything. Russel pulled the dress from over Zero’s head and dropped it to the floor. He needed some kind of night clothes to sleep in and the large man went for his dresser.

Del poked his head out from the shadows and kept his eyes fixated on Zero. He watched the boy rock his body side to side, muttering something to himself. At times, their sights would meet one another but only for a moment before Zero continued staring off into the distance. He couldn’t describe how Zero didn’t feel right. Zero didn’t feel like his own person. Zero felt like Russel; the similarity was uncanny. If Del closed his eyes while they were both in the room and reached out to the soul he attached himself to, he couldn’t tell who was who. It made the ghost feel certainly uneasy.

Russel returned with one of his t-shirts, a black one, and pulled the cotton shirt down over Zero’s head. He rested the boy’s head on a throw pillow he had and draped a blanket on his small body. Russel had turned his back to Zero when the young boy spoke up.

“Russoul, do you see the angel too…?” Zero mumbled. His eyes fluttered as he talked.

“The…angel?” Russel asked, perplexed, and turned back towards the boy. “What angel, Zero?”

Zero mustered up the little bit of strength he had to lift his hand and point at Del. “The blue angel there. He watches me.”

Russel glanced down at Del. The ghost’s body broke out into blue static and his head sunk into the floor. Russel asked, “Do you always see these uh…angels?”

Zero nodded his head once. “Me see lots of angels. Good angels…bad angels. Me see and hear them all the time.” He then held his head where his injury was located. “The voices make my head hurt…”

“Noodle back!” the young girl announced as she entered the room. She carried a small towel, the ice pack 2D was supposed to get, and Zero’s stuffed cat in her arms. Noodle came up to Russel and said, “2D say uh, he take break!”

Russel took the towel and ice pack from the girl. 2D must be taking a break to calm his nerves, he thought. The one-eyed cat appeared to come to life, attempting to wiggle out of Noodle’s tight hold. It even tried scratching at Noodle’s arms with its black felt claws as a means of escape. Noodle sat the toy cat on it own two legs and it stood on its own without assistance. The cat sprinted pass Russel and jumped into Zero’s awaiting arms. He gave the stuffed animal a comforting hug.

“Kitty…” Zero said while he rubbed his cheek against the cat’s fuzzy face. Within seconds, the boy succumbed to the painkillers flowing through his veins. Kitty ceased all movement when Zero fell asleep as if it was sleeping itself.

At a loss of words at what just happened, Russel could only stare at the boy and his stuffed animal. He wrapped the ice pack in the towel and pressed it against the back of Zero’s head. Zero stirred and flipped over at the sudden change of temperature. He would be out of commission for a bit due to Murdoc’s little stunt. It could have killed Zero. Unless that was his plan all along; Russel wouldn’t be surprised if it was. Who knew what else he would do.

Noodle tugged on Russel’s shirt. “Russel, Zero be okay?”

“Yeah. Zero just needs to get some rest,” he answered.

The girl’s eyes lit up like fireworks. “That mean Zero stays?”

He couldn’t deny that glitter in her eyes. He wasn’t a heartless man. Saying no to her was out of the question. Russel looked over at the slumbering boy. But what if he hurt Noodle? Del’s question repeated in his head. It made him grimace. He hadn’t hurt or made any attempts to hurt Noodle during their time together. The only victim was his injured hand. He was just a kid and knew nothing else. Maybe he could make Zero a civil member of society? Well, as best as a person living in Kong could be, that is.

Russel sighed and gave Noodle a pat on her helmet clad head. “Yeah, Zero’s staying,” he said.

“Yay!” Noodle cheered and gave him a hug, squishing her face into the man’s stomach.

Russel led the girl out of the room so Zero could rest. Since Zero was staying, he had to consider clearing out a room, buying clothes and various other items. Money wasn’t an issue; it was more of not knowing what Zero liked. He had a few days before Zero would full come to. 2D’s painkillers were heavy duty stuff. Plenty of time of figure out what to put in the boy’s new room. Forcing Murdoc to help speed up the whole process would help immensely.


	5. Survival

“I still don’t see why I need to help clean,” Murdoc grumbled, displeased. He stood in a cluttered room while he held the corpse of a large rat by the tail, swinging it around like a toy. The window in the hallway was open so Murdoc went for it and threw the dead rat into the landfill. The rat soared through the air, a crow swooped in, and caught it in its talons. He watched the bird return to its murder, and he walked back into the room. “I could literally be doing anything but this right now.”

“Like what?” Russel asked as he heaved a cardboard box full of God knows what out of the room and returned. “Drink yourself into a coma with all that cheap ass liquor you keep buying.”

“It’s called saving money, Lards,” Murdoc replied. “Like you would know about saving with all the rare vinyls and tons of food you get.”

“Ha, I forgot how to laugh,” Russel said dryly and picked up another box. “Now get your sorry ass into gear. Since you drugged Zero, you gotta help me clear out this room while ‘D and Noodle are out shopping.”

“Great idea!” said Murdoc. “Giving Dents and a kid access to a bank account isn’t going to end horribly wrong.”

“I gave him a list and a stern talking to before they left,” Russel said, carrying a box outside and returning. He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms. “I’m quite sure he can’t mess that up. Unless, you want to go out and buy things for Zero’s room.”

Murdoc snorted in response.

“I thought so. Now get to work. I’m going to check up on Zero,” Russel went back into the hallway and headed for his room. It was a few doors from that room that would be Zero’s bedroom. He wanted to keep an eye on Zero for the time being. Him having a room next to Noodle’s room, to much of Noodle’s displeasure, was unacceptable. For now, that is.

The room was dark when Russel poked his head inside. The only light source was his trusted magenta lava lamp he had plugged in on top of his dresser. He didn’t know it Zero was afraid of the dark or not. Better safe than sorry, he guessed. Russel opened the door wider. The light from the hall filtered into the room and his shadow casted itself over the carpet. Zero’s blanket and pillow were thrown on the floor. The table next to the sofa appeared to have been kicked or pushed over. Zero was still asleep with his knees drawn up to his chest and his back to Russel. He set the table upright again; Zero probably knocked it over in his sleep. Russel placed the pillow and blanket back with the boy. He didn’t move the slightest when he covered him up. His breathing was shallow when Russel put a finger under Zero’s nose. Murdoc was going to get more than a broken nose if Zero didn’t make it through to the next morning.

That dirty stuffed cat Russel had seen move before sat on the arm of the couch next to Zero’s head. Kitty, he remembered Zero calling it, stared at him quietly with that unblinking single button eye of hers. Russel stared back, unsure what to do with her. Did she know what was going on around her? Was she autonomous? Paranoia began to set in. He had to make sure that she wasn’t possessed by a demon or something like that.

“Hey…” Russel greeted the toy. Saying hello was the first thing to do when kicking off conversation with moving, possibly demonic toys. “Can you understand me? Are you friendly?”

Kitty turned her head to Zero, in thought perhaps, then looked by at Russel. She raised her arm up to wave back at him then gave him a nod. She pointed at the empty spot on the left side of her face where another black button would be. She pointed at herself, then at Russel, then back at her empty eye socket.

Russel could only look at the toy in confusion. She wanted something but he couldn’t figure out what.

“She trying to say that she wants a new eye,” Del replied. He had returned to the safety of his friend’s head after a while. Staying outside of a body for too long was dangerous.

“You can understand what’s it?” Russel asked through his thoughts. He didn’t have to move his mouth to speak to him.

“Hell no,” answered Del, “I just don’t suck at charades like you do.”

“I don’t suck,” Russel retorted. Not skipping a beat, Russel suddenly smacked himself against the head. He fumed. Having your dead friend gain minor control of his body sometimes was a pain. “So, you want me to fix you up?” he asked as he regained control and stuffed Del away in a mental box.

Kitty nodded her head and clapped her paws together in what Russel believed to be happiness or joy. Kind of difficult to figure out emotions on a stuffed cat’s unmoving face. The toy animal jumped in Russel’s direction, who caught her before she fell to the floor. Kitty crawled up his arm and settled on his right shoulder, swinging her legs back and forth. This moving stuffed cat had to be another one of those anomalies that Facility collected. Maybe she could help him understand all this SCP nonsense.

Russel had his eyes on Zero when the silhouette of a person stepped into the doorway. He assumed it was just Murdoc, slacking off and avoiding his duties as usual.

“Muds, get back in that room and clean,” he ordered without turning to face the shadow.

“SCP sighted. Moving in for containment,” a gruff male voice answered instead of Murdoc’s gravel lidden voice. “Copy that,” another male voice replied over a radio.

An unknown person stormed into the room, which grabbed Russel’s attention. The man was geared up in black tactical armor and he pointed the barrel of an assault rifle at Russel’s head. He froze in place. First, crazed maniacs were attacking the band and now the military officials? Did Murdoc do something bad enough that the military was coming for them? Fear kept Russel’s knees locked in place. He hated guns with a passion ever since Del and his friends’ untimely deaths. He took a slow breath in then exhaled, trying to keep himself together. Everything had a logical reasoning to it.

“Get down subject,” the soldier demanded. “Get down now or I’ll use force!” When the soldier pressed the gun to Russel’s head, the barrel phased through him and dispelled into black haze. He noticed that the soldier lacked feet and floated inches above the floor in a cloud of black smoke. Fear no longer gripped him and he stepped towards the soldier, shoving his arm into him. His arm passed through the armored without much effort. The soldier exploded into nothing but black smoke. It circled around him before it dove straight in Zero’s ear. Zero tossed and turned in his sleep, kicking the blanket off his body.

It slowly came together. That soldier was part of Zero’s subconscious, most likely memories of that Facility he was made and came from. It didn’t surprise him that his memories can manifest into reality if the boy was related to him. The supernatural knew how to wrap its fingers around people like him. Russel was a little scared of what was locked away in the boy’s head. He covered Zero up again and left the room with Kitty in tow.

A Russel shut the door behind him quietly, Murdoc ran pass with a group of rabid rats hot on his tail. He snorted out a slight laugh at the amusing sight and went right back to hauling boxes out of the room.

_____________________________

A day passed and Zero’s eyes finally cracked open. His body was heavy from the little bit of painkillers lingering in his system and his eyes stung from dryness. The pillow his head rested on and the side of his face were covered in a thin coating of his own saliva. Zero rubbed his eyes and wiped his face off then shoved the pillow to the floor. He tried to get up, but his body only flopped halfway off the couch then the rest of his body slid onto the floor. It felt like went the White Coats would give him that strange water with the metal stabby things. Zero heaved himself to his feet. They wobbled underneath him as the world around him teetered and spun.

His stomach growled. His body craved meat and noodles. While Zero never ate frequent meals, he loved what Noodle made for him and it gave him a warm feeling on the inside. He longed to feel that sensation again. Perhaps Noodle could make him more food. She knew how to use that metal box and make fire from it.

Walking on his hands and feet, Zero opened the door to the room in caution. He peeked through the small crack between the wall and the door. The hallway was lit and quiet. The large windows across the way were pitch black. There was the faint glow of the moon behind puffy, grey clouds. The coast was clear and Zero slipped out of the safety of the room. He kept his body close to the wall in some attempt to remain unseen if anyone came by. Zero was fine when Noodle was by his side, but by himself? It was scary in this big place…

The sound of nails scratching on a wall or door nearby grabbed Zero’s attention. His tail perked up; maybe it was Noodle? He ran down the hall and made a sharp right turn into the next hallway. “Nudill?” Zero called, curious, as he turned another corner. His tail drooped at the real source of the odd noise.

It was zombies; four of them stood outside of Noodle’s bedroom. Their rotting fingers clawed at the closed door, growling and hissing in frustration as they lacked the smarts to know how to turn a knob. Zero steadied his breathing. He dealt with many of these undead creatures in the past as a part of some tests. Though he didn’t expect them to be here also. Zero stepped back, his tail got wrapped around his legs, and he fell to the floor with a hard thud. Fright made him shake and he turned back to face the zombies. They hadn’t moved an inch from their spot.

Still a bit dizzy, he relaxed and lifted himself back to a standing position. His head rose and another creature blocked his path. It was a pudgy, black, red eyed with a giant, sharp tooth, mischievous grin on its face. The upside down cross on its forehead reminded him of the necklace Murdoc wore, so he connected the two. He knew the creature would cause trouble for him and Zero leapt for it. The demon jumped into the air, avoiding Zero’s grasp, and let out a scream. When it landed on the floor, the demon fled right into a wall and disappeared. The zombies all turned their heads towards the sound. Their yellow, glowing eyes lacked any emotions to them. They approached Zero and bellowed a loud screech straight from the pits of Hell. The undead charged at Zero like hungry animals.

Zero froze completely. A zombie grabbed Zero by the shoulders and he was too scared to retaliate. It opened its mouth wide and chomped down on the side of the boy’s neck. The pain sent a jolt through his body like that zapping pole the White Coats used on him. Zero ripped the zombie off him and shoved it into the others. They fell over as if they were dominos. He wasn’t ready to die, not today. And certainly not in that hands of some brainless, undead monsters.

As they scrambled to get up, Zero pounced, and knocked them over again. He pinned the zombie that bit him to the floor while the others dog-piled him. The remnants of the painkillers eased some of the pain but their biting and scratching still hurt. It was a different pain that Zero had never experienced before.

Voices droned in Zero’s head like a war horn. They were loud and incoherent. Somehow, he understood what they were saying. This was life or death, survival of the fittest. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. The voices drowned out his own thoughts. His desire to survive transformed into the need to tear his enemies apart. It was a craving deep within his subconscious even he nor the White Coats couldn’t curb. The craving altered Zero’s form into something heavier and bulkier. A form that could take a beating.

He threw the other zombies off his new form with easily and crushed the skull of the zombie underneath him in his new, black, clawed hand. Rotten brain mush and old blood oozed out from in between his fingers. It was surprising warm from coming out of the undead. A zombie sunk its teeth into his wide shoulder, barely breaking the skin under his shirt. Zero tore it off him by the leg and swung it about like a bat, hitting the other two. With the remaining zombies sprawled out on the floor in confusion, Zero threw the zombie in hand against the floor and crushed its head under his foot. The contents of its skull splattered across the floor like a mushed grape. He mauled the rest of the undead with teeth and claws.

Their dark blood painted Zero’s face and hands. He was the victor in the battle; alive for another day. He stomped his feet, pounded his fists against his chest, and roared. It echoed throughout the Kong halls. No one was a match for him.

Friday was movie night and it was Murdoc’s turn to pick the movie. Good thing since everyone except 2D had gotten bored of zombie flicks. Murdoc chose _Jaws_ this time around. Nothing like seeing dumb beach goers getting eaten by a very fake looking Great White shark. Noodle sat on the couch in between Murdoc and 2D while Russel settled himself in the recliner next to the couch. Kitty still hung onto his shoulder and hadn’t moved from that spot as she watched the movie also.

“ _You’re still thinking about it_ ,” Del’s deep static-like voice rumbled like thunder in his head. Russel didn’t respond. He had no need to; Del felt his answer. “ _You need to chill out. All of this is stressing you out, man._ ” The others within his head agreed with Del. Their voices just faint, jumbled murmurs. It had been a while since he heard them talk. They weren’t as strong and presentable as Del was but they were still there.

They were right. Those documents were causing him too much unnecessary stress. He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. All he needed to do was relax and aske those questions later. Not a moment later, a deep bellow ripped through Russel’s eardrums and he sat up quick, almost falling out of his chair. Kitty held onto his shirt when he suddenly leapt forward. He couldn’t have been the only one who heard that. It didn’t sound like anything a human could make.

“Zero!” Noodle exclaimed at the loud noise. He could be in danger! She shoved the popcorn bowl from her lap, causing the popcorn to scatter all over the floor. The girl climbed over Murdoc in a hurry, kicking him in the face, and jumped over the side of the couch. Russel got up and rushed after her. He didn’t want her getting anywhere near whatever made that sound.

“Where are you guys going?” 2D called out while he kept his eye on the television. “The best part is coming up!” Right as he spoke, the shark dragged a woman in a bikini under the water and tore her apart. “Nice,” he chuckled and fumbled around for the popcorn bowl. His eyes finally broke from the telly when his search turned up with nothing. 2D frowned at the popcorn mess on the carpet. What a waste of good popcorn, really. “Wait for me!” 2D shouted after the two and got up to follow them. But not before he came back and shoveled a handful of carpet lint covered popcorn in his mouth.

Murdoc abandoned the movie also to make sure his investments didn’t get themselves killed.

Seeing a copy of yourself standing in the middle of a warzone of zombie parts with a face covered in nasty blood would be a startling sight for anyone. And Russel was completely and utterly mortified. Copying Murdoc or 2D was fine since it was a good laugh and the modifications weren’t much different from the original. But Zero made Russel look like a monster.

Zero’s arms and legs were black as oil and clawed like a demon’s. Over his original eyes were another pair of eyes, narrower and more glowing. The canines in his mouth were large and jutted out unevenly. Zero’s hulking form was about twice the size of Russel. The behemoth that was Zero turned to face the band members that stood in the hall along with the zombie carnage around them. He saw Noodle and his lips parted into a wide smile at the sight of his new friend. Zero stomped his feet happily, causing the whole floor to shake. The four stumbled and tried to keep their balance until the boy stopped.

“Nudill!” Zero cheered in a voice that didn’t belong to him and raised his arms into the air. “Me a winner!”

Noodle stepped towards Zero only to have Russel pull her back closer to him by the collar of her jacket. All Russel could do was stare at Zero. He wasn’t a monster; he kept repeating the statement to himself. It reminded him when he was possessed by that demon all those years ago. It wasn’t his fault that he hurt his classmates. Anxiety began to creep up on him as an icy, stabbing sensation in his arms and legs. Del couldn’t save him from the fear that plagued his mind.

Frustrated, Noodle wiggled her jacket off and slipped out of Russel’s death grip. She was tired of the boys ‘attempting’ to protect her because she was the smallest and youngest. She didn’t need their protection. She could protect herself if she needed to. Noodle approached Zero and looked up at him which, in turn, he looked down at her. She was slowly getting used to seeing Zero change into different people He was kind of like a chameleon. A strange, friendly chameleon. A friendly chameleon who could rip zombies in half. Now she could see why the boys wanted to protect her. But Zero wasn’t like the demons that roamed about in Kong. She couldn’t describe the energy that Zero emitted and the bond they now shared. It was a good energy. It was too complicated for words. Murdoc, 2D, and Russel wouldn’t understand if she tried to explain it to them.

In a blink of an eye, Zero reverted back to his normal self. “Me hungry,” he said. “Can Zero have nudills?” He then asked as he slipped his blood covered hand into Noodle’s hand.

“Did Zero kill all these zombies by himself?” Russel recollected himself and turned to see 2D behind him. How long had he been standing there? He looked at Russel and asked, “Do you think he got bitten, Russ?”

Murdoc walked up to the two men, overhearing their conversation, and answered, “Well, it looks like we have to put it down then. Just like Old Yeller.” He pulled a pistol from the waistband of his jeans.

2D whimpered, “Not Old Yeller…”

Russel recoiled. “Man, Muds. Where the hell did you get a damn gun?” he said. “And stop calling Zero an ‘it’.”

“I always have a trusted pistol nearby in case something like this happens,” Murdoc replied, waving the gun around. “You know, for the usual zombie shooting and scaring off those pansy holy rollers. With their leaflets and iron pressed clothes. Thinking they’re better than me.”

“Put that thing away. You ain’t shooting anyone.” Russel said and shoved the gun towards Murdoc’s chest. But would he stop Murdoc if he had the barrel of his gun pointed at Zero? Would he care if the boy died? He cared when he was drugged but now was different. Only morals and morbid curiosity gave him a reason to care about Zero. He wanted to know about what this ‘Facility’ was all about. And the doctor’s letter. How could he trust a complete stranger’s word and a dead stranger, at that?

“You always have to ruin my fun, you rollie pollie.” Murdoc grumbled as he stuffed the gun back in his waistband. “I can’t sacrifice animals for rituals. I can’t use black magic. You’re a fucking tyrant.”

“I don’t think you’re using that word right, Murdoc,” 2D commented.

“Oh, shut up, you human speed bump.”


	6. Normal

Noodle squeezed out the excess water from the washcloth and started wiping the drying zombie blood from Zero’s body. The two children went to the kitchen to fix up Zero’s injuries. He sat on a stool as she dug around under the kitchen sink cupboard and retrieved the first aid kid they always kept there. Zero, curious, watched her open the metal box and took out a bottle of rubbing alcohol from it. She poured a small amount of the liquid on the end of a cotton ball and dabbed it against his neck wound. Thankfully, the zombie bite only scratched the surface of his skin. The sudden stinging sensation and the iciness of the liquid made Zero slap her hand away. He didn’t like it at all and the smell of it burned his nose.

“No, not bad,” Noodle attempted to explain. “Get clean so no pain later.” She learned basic first aid from watching Russel clean 2D’s various injuries, whether they be from beatings or general clumsiness. He told her that he didn’t want 2D’s injuries to get infected and Noodle didn’t want Zero’s wound getting infected either. No one else would care for Zero if she didn’t. And besides, Zero was her friend.

Understanding her words, Zero frowned at her and he tilted his head to the side, showing her his neck. He trusted Noodle, even if he had to deal with a little pain. A little stinging was nothing compared to the torment he faced with the White Coats.

With some gauze and medical tape, Zero’s bite mark was patched up. Zero stretched his neck a little, trying to get used to the tape on his skin. He bumped his forehead against Noodle’s helmet clad head. It made a soft thump when their heads collided. A sharp chirping noise came from Zero’s throat as he snuggled his head against Noodle’s. She smiled, shoved Zero away playfully, and returned the first aid kit to its rightful place. It wouldn’t surprise her if it saw use again at the end of the day. Noodle took Zero’s hand in her as she did before and led him out into the hallway. Zero followed behind her with eagerness.

“Noodle got surprise for Zero,” she claimed. “Make Zero happy.”

“Surprise?” Zero repeated. Another surprise for him? What was there more to give to him?

“Hai,” Noodle replied then put Zero’s hands over his white eyes. “Close eyes. No peek, okay?”

Zero obeyed as he did after she gave him a bath and Noodle pushed him along for a short distance before stopping him. He heard a door creak and squeak as it opened in front of him then felt Noodle’s hands on his back as she pushed him forward a short distant. His bare feet immediately touched plush carpet and he came to another stop. His hands were trembling with excitement and he couldn’t stop grinning.

“Okay, open!” Noodle declared, throwing her arms into the air above her head.

His hands dropped to his sides and his eyes adjusted to the light in the area. “Nudill,” Zero said, astonished, and he stepped into the center of the room he found himself in. The room was similar in size to Noodle’s room but lacked much of the decorations that her room had. What the room did have was a king-sized bed on the left side of the area, covered in clean black sheets. He walked over to the bed and sat down on it while he dug his toes into red carpet. He looked up, eyes wandering around the room. The purple wallpaper was peeling in some places, but he didn’t mind that at all. There were white lights on strings handing from the ceiling and the walls to add extra lighting to the room. Not too little and not too much light; Zero liked it. There was a large oak bookcase across the room from him and the bed. It had the books he kept in his bag and Momma’s lyre on the middle shelf, leaving room for many more books to be added to rather empty bookcase.

“This for me?” asked Zero, pointing to himself.

“Hai!” Noodle answered as she nodded her head quickly.

Accepting her reply, Zero laid back on the bed and stared up at the slightly stained ceiling. “Mine,” he whispered for himself to hear and ran his hand over the smooth sheets. It was a complete turnaround from his old room in the Facility, far different. He didn’t have to sleep on the cold, metal floor anymore. He had his own soft and comfy bed to sleep in now. Zero closed his eyes and breathed in the world around him. “Thank yew, Nudill,” he said.

This was what freedom felt like. The utter calmness of knowing he was safe and being treated like he was normal. _Normal_ ; he repeated the sacred word in his head and he sat upright in a swift motion. He wasn’t normal like Noodle was. Nowhere close, as a matter of fact. He could be normal if he tried hard enough. Momma would be so proud to see him as a normal child when she came to get him. Zero couldn’t wait to see her again…

**************************

“Are you sure sewing into you isn’t going to hurt you?” Russel asked, a bit concerned.

He held the stuffed cat in his left hand and held a threaded needle in his right. Before the sewing process even began, Russel wiped the dirt and grime off Kitty with a wet cloth and towel dried her. Her grey fur was actually a creamy white underneath all that built-up filth. Russel held his hand steady, swallowed hard and, with his brows crinkled in concentration, began to sew a black button to the cat’s face. He took his time repairing the stuffed toy; there was no reason not to do a good job. It didn’t take too long and with a snip of a pair of scissors, Russel cut off the extra bit of thread and tied it off.

“There you are, little sista,” Russel said, standing the cat on her own two stubby legs. “Hope the new eye warms up to you.”

Kitty investigated her body carefully. She touched her new eye, looked down at herself, waggled her nubby tail, then nodded her head in approval. She gave Russel a thumbs-up with one of her felt claws which he knew was a good sign. When her was putting his surgeon’s tools in his table drawer, Kitty tapped at his arm.

“Yeah?” Russel replied, “You need something else?”

The cat nodded her head and pointed at the black thread running down the middle of her midsection. She started to undo the thread’s tie and unraveled it. Russel tried to stop Kitty from dismantling herself right in front of him, but she swatted his hands away. It appeared she knew what she was doing. When the thread was completely undone, Kitty parted the two side of her torso and buried her hands inside herself. She dug around her belly through cotton white stuffing and removed a black flash drive from within. Holding the plastic object in her grasp, Kitty placed the flash drive gently in the center of Russel’s open palm. She shoved the stuffing back inside her body and tied her torso closed.

“What’s that?” Russel asked, perplexed, as he looked at storage drive. “Are you giving this to me?”

Kitty nodded with enthusiasm and bounced up and down, waving her arms about.

Russel opened his mouth to ask the stuffed toy another question, but Kitty was done with him as she jumped off the table and landed on the floor, stumbling as she landed. He watched run across the room towards the exit. In a stroke of luck, Zero opened the bedroom door and Kitty ran out the room from between his legs. The boy watched her speed off down the corridor and disappear out of sight.

“Hey Zero,” Russel greeted the strange boy as he stood up from his chair. “You need something?”

Zero was still in his oversized black shirt. They had to buy him his own clothes to wear, Russel thought to himself. For now, until that day, he could wear his old shirts as pajamas and Noodle’s clothes for everyday wear.

Zero turned his focus towards the large man and entered the room. He walked over, stood in front of Russel, and stared up at him. It was…odd seeing eyes like his own looking at him. Eyes void of expression and subtle movement that others’ eyes held. Was this what others felt like when he looked at them? The only time he saw his eyes were in a mirror, but he knew himself and how he acted. Zero, obviously, was his own person. But Russel did wonder how the boy got eyes like his. Could he be also possessed as he was? A part of his subconscious did point a rifle at his head and then fade into smoke. Everything around the kid was obscured by shadows.

Zero’s body stiffened and he kept his arms to his sides with his hands balled up into fists. Russel raised a brow in confusion. The boy was just standing there, staring in silence for longer than he liked. Did he want something or what? It was like he was trying to stare a hole into him. Russel was about to say something to make Zero, well, anything but the boy beat him to the punch.

“Zero wants to be normal!” He blurted out loud.

A bit baffled yet intrigued, Russel said, “Normal is a very vague word. Explain to me what you want exactly.”

Curling his tail to the front of him, Zero took ahold of the extra limb and twisted it in his hands. “Um, Zero wants to be normal,” he repeated. “Talk good, be good. Be a normal, good boy like Noodle.”

“That’s gonna be impossible,” Del made a snarky comment in Russel’s head. “Ain’t no one normal in this place.”

“Shut up!” Zero hissed. “Me will be normal! You’re wrong!”

Both Russel and Del recoiled in unison. The documents did describe that Zero could see and hear spirits. But the own spirits locked away in Russel’s head? Who was he? What other abilities did Zero possess? Was he ever going to get any answers to the questions piling up?

“Zero, can you hear Del inside my head?” Russel asked.

Zero ignored the question and continued ranting, “All these voices tell Zero can’t do thing. White Coats, angels, don’t matter. Zero be strong and normal. Make Momma happy.” The boy’s body and tail drooped, and his voice went quiet. “Me be a good boy…”

A pang of pity for the boy hit Russel hard. His ‘mother’ was dead and his attempts of being normal would, in the end, be in vain. But maybe he could train Zero just to be normal in the general world around them. Being a civil person would help Zero in the long run. Then Russel remembered they tiny flash drive in his hand and closed his fingers around it. Whatever the storage device held piqued the large man’s interest.

“Zero, I’ll teach you some things tomorrow,” Russel said and glanced over his shoulder to look at his desktop computer. “I’ve got something important to do.”

Zero nodded his head in response and said, “Okay. Momma said to listen when people have important things to do. Momma teach me things in the Facility, and now you teach me things too. Tomorrow, yes.” The boy got down on his knuckles and feet, trotting away out of his room.

Russel was somewhat thankful that Zero was strangely obedient. It removed the wall of him being a nosy child and not listening like Noodle did sometimes. Russel closed the door behind Zero and locked it. He didn’t want anyone else busting into his room without knocking again. His chair creaked underneath his weight as he sat down in front of his computer monitor. One hallow click of the power button and the screen came to life. The light of the solid lime green desktop illuminated his face and reflected off his eyes.

Del materialized out of Russel’s ear again, leaning on his friend’s shoulder. His glowing eyes flickered like an old lightbulb. “Damn, your desktop is the most boring shit I’ve ever seen,” Del remarked.

“Says the ghost who never used a computer,” Russel argued. “Talk to me when you get one.”

“Negro, you don’t know what I do when you’re sleeping,” Del replied in a snooty tone.

Russel rolled his eyes and plugged the flash drive into the USB port in the tower which shared the same space with his monitor. A white window opened on its own on the screen seconds after he put the storage drive in his computer. On the window were fields to type in a username and password. Russel scratched his cheek and cursed quietly under his breath. He wasn’t expecting the drive to be password protected. Now he hit a sudden brick wall. How was he going to figure out both a random username and password on a device from who knows where?

“Let me see what I can do with this,” Del said, cracking his knuckles. He disconnected himself from his host and reduced his form into visible blue static electricity. The air popped as he floated around his friend’s head then he zipped into the computer tower through the floppy disk drive. The flash drive sparked with electricity several times and the username and password typed itself on the screen. Russel pressed the enter key and the text fields accepted Del’s fake entries, causing them to disappear off the desktop. The computer tower shuddered and Del hurried out of the piece of technology, returning to Russel. “Child’s play. Nothing I couldn’t handle,” Del said, pleased with himself.

Another window appeared before Russel. There was a round black decal with arrows pointing to the middle on the background of the white window. File folders were the contents of the flash drive, filling only half of the window’s space. The first file was labeled _RH: SCP-23-Alpha._ Russel’s heart dropped to his stomach and he swallowed hard. They matched his initials, but it just had to be some sort of strange coincidence. He had a bad feeling about this, a very bad feeling. Del’s form vibrated from his friend’s fear.

He took the small mouse in hand and clicked on the folder which opened to text documents. They were labeled by date and Russel opened the first document. A moment passed before the file actually opened and it loaded its contents on the screen. It looked like some kind of diary entry and was signed off by one Eugene Kane. Russel recalled that name being the same doctor in charge of Zero’s creation. Or that was what the documentation told him, that is. How could a team of scientists create a boy out of thin air? That kind of technology just didn’t exist. Maybe the doctor’s personal notes could shed some light on Zero’s existence.

“Russ, stop stalling,” Del scolded him a little. “You have to read this shit eventually. You can’t avoid it.”

Del was right; he was stalling a bit for time. Russel breathed and started reading the diary entry in silence. He glued his eyes to the small screen.

_Today was another eventful day of the usual boring sorting and documentation of the internal databases. I overheard from my colleagues that a peculiar situation has appeared before the Foundation. There was a boy in Brooklyn that has shown anomalous properties that could threaten the lives of those around him. Interesting. Not many children such as that boy were in our ownership. Perhaps I will speak to a doctor of higher clearance to research this child. It has certainly piqued my interest. -EK_

Russel’s worst fear had come true. Kane, in this entry, was talking about him and his first demon possession. There was no mistaking it and he couldn’t deny it no longer. Not like demon possession was a common occurrence in the American pastime. He had to press onward even if the thought made his stomach turn. He clicked on the next text document.

_I have gotten clearance to study this anomalous child and scheduled a trip to Brooklyn. I never liked that city, personally. Full of intelligence deficient people. It wasn’t difficult to find the child’s home. When I knocked on the door, the child’s mother answered. I informed her that I was only a humble doctor there to check her son’s vitals and she seemed to take my vague lie immediately. She let me inside her residence, and she led me to her son’s room. The child was stuck in bed, trapped in a deep coma. The child’s father sat by his son’s bed, chanting prayers under his breath. The mother informed me that her son had transformed and attacked his schoolmates, even gravely injuring several of them. I took the child’s vitals and they told me that their son’s anomalous properties were due to some sort of demon possession. I couldn’t describe the energy I felt flow from the boy’s body. It sent cold shivers down my spine; the power was almost arousing. Almost comparable to other SCPs in the Foundation custody. I asked if I could study their child, omitting any details about the Foundation to the civilians. They were quick to shut my request down, claimed that God would save their son. I held in my laughter when they said that. Simpletons. They would never understand our work to protect the world. Their idiocy made them too proud and narrowminded. We will have that child, one way or another. -EK_

This entry somewhat put Russel’s mind at ease. His parents wouldn’t let this mad man take him away. While he wasn’t religious, he felt guilty that he ever doubted them all those years ago. And if he didn’t get creepy vibes from Kane before, Russel had those vibes now. He didn’t want to continue reading anymore of this loon’s crazy ramblings. He had to know how this ended, but some of the text documents he opened were full of jumbled numbers and letters, as if they were either encrypted or corrupted. Closure is what he needed, so he skipped to the last entry. When he opened it, the entry was shorter than all the others.

_Came back to Brooklyn to retrieve several type of DNA samples from the boy. Made up some absurd lie to his parents that it was just to be used to test their son’s iron levels and white cell count. If we can’t have the boy, we can just create a duplicate with SCP-1106. Better, stronger, smarter. We will remake him if it takes us hundreds of tries… -EK_

A cold sweat broke out all over his body. He couldn’t quite believe it but there it was, right in front of him in text on his monitor. Russel didn’t want to believe it. Zero wasn’t his son or related him in any way; Zero was him, a clone. Technically speaking, that is, but Russel no less. That man, Eugene Kane; his name no longer brought curiosity but searing rage to him. The vague puzzle pieces were slowly coming together. To that doctor, he was SCP-23-Alpha. He was just another test subject in this man’s long list of lab rats. Russel ran a shaky hand over his scalp, trying to wrap his head around all this…insanity. Was cloning humans even achievable? It didn’t seem at all, but Zero’s existence made it all too real. It was apparent that mad doctor didn’t get what he wanted from Zero since he wasn’t Russel at all. A clone could never be the real thing.

“I knew something was up with Zero.” Del mumbled to himself. “What are we going to do with the kid now?”

Russel didn’t answer. His body acted on autopilot now while his mind was preoccupied. Kane couldn’t know about his whereabouts, could he? Of course he would; Gorillaz was a famous band and toured around the world. But Kane lost interest in him and made Zero. Russel didn’t matter anymore, right? Wouldn’t the Foundation just go looking for Zero now that he was out of their hold? Or did they make another clone to replace the boy already? Questions filled his head and the thought of those sick doctors making another one of him made his stomach turn even more. He then shot up immediately from his chair and tore the flash drive out his computer without exited the text program. The evidence had to be destroyed; no one should or could read these documents.

“Russ?” Del called his friend’s name but it went on deaf ears.

Russel threw the flash drive to the floor and brought his heel down on the piece of plastic and metal without hesitation. It was reduced to shards as he stomped on it over and over again. Then he disposed of the remains in the landfill and soon were forgotten. No one would ever read those diary entries. Now he had to do something about Zero…

*********************

“First off, you can’t walk around with your tail out in public. Okay? It’s fine inside in Kong since we know you, but others will get scared.” Russel addressed as he paced in front of Zero. “Second, you need to walk around just on your two feet from now on. And thirdly, you can’t be turning into other people anyone. That stuff’s freaky.”

Zero sat on the edge of the large man’s bed, watching him intently and listening carefully. He tilted his head to the side and the tip of tail twitched. “People will get scared, yeah?” Zero questioned. “Good normal boys don’t turn into other people and good, normal boys don’t got tails, yeah?”

Russel nodded his head and stopped in front of the boy. “If you want to be normal, you have to work on all of that,” he replied.

Zero’s gaze soon turned distant as he stared through the large man before him. “Good normal boys don’t got tails…Good normal boys don’t got tails…” he chanted repeatedly as he hopped off the bed. Russel watched in silence and slight confusion as Zero left the room towards the kitchen. Kitty jumped off the bed and ran after the boy in a hurry.

“You might want to follow him,” Del suggested in his head. “I’m not liking the look on the kid’s face.”

“Don’t need to tell me twice, man,” Russel thought his reply and rushed out of the bedroom.

Kitty bounced about in a frantic manner as she led Russel into the kitchen. The stuffed cat flailed her arms wildly as Zero sat on the floor with a large cleaver in his hand. He was lining up the knife with his tail.

“Good normal boys don’t got tails…” Zero continued to say and he raised the cleaver over his head.

“Zero, don’t!” Russel shouted and reached out his hand toward the boy. There was no way he would make it to Zero before he hurt himself. When he reached his hand out, Del responded to the gesture. The ghost stretched out his body from his host and grabbed the child’s wrist before he could cause any injury to himself.

Zero struggled against the ghost’s grip. “Let go!” he yelled. The knife dropped to the floor with a clatter.

“Kid, you must be outta your damn mind,” Del commented with a frown on his face.

“Zero,” Russel said, approaching Zero. “What do you think you’re doing with that cleaver?”

“Good normal boys don’t got tails!” Zero shouted back, trying to grab the cleaver again with his free hand.

Russel snatched up the knife, put it back in the drawer, and closed it. “Cutting off your tail isn’t going to magically make you normal,” he explained firmly. “You’ll only end up hurting yourself.”

Zero struggled even more as tears began to collect at the corners of his eyes. “Me just wanna be normal!” the boy screamed before breaking down into loud sobbing. “Me just wanna be a good normal boy…”

Del released Zero’s wrist and returned into Russel’s head when he knelt to the child’s height. He rested a hand on top of Zero’s head, which the boy flinched at the heavy touch and stopped crying. Their eyes met. He was his clone, a product of mad science and his own DNA. Russel sighed. Zero was still his own person with his own ideas, opinions, and personality. All he wished to be was normal, but it wasn’t as easy as chopping off a limb.

“Zero,” Russel started to say.

“Me wanna be a good normal boy for Momma and Nudill,” the boy interrupted.

“I’m not sure about your mother, but I know Noodle cares a lot about you,” Russel replied. “She won’t care if you’re normal or not. She likes you the way you are now, Zero.”

Zero blinked in silence.

“Just listen to what we say, alright?” he said, taking his hand off Zero’s head. “You’ll be okay.”

With a few sniffles, Zero wiped the tears away with the palm of his hand and nodded. “O-okay…” he answered.

*********************

“So, you’re telling me not only is that thing a test tube baby created by some crackpot doctors,” Murdoc said as he crossed his arms over his bare chest. “But it’s also your clone. That’s a laugh. Soon you’re going to tell me that Dents here actually a smart thought in his empty head.”

Russel found himself in the company of both Murdoc and 2D in the bassist’s Winnebago once again. Not that he wanted to be sitting in a funky and tattered RV, but it was the only place that Noodle, and by extension Zero too, purposefully avoided. He wanted no chance for the children to be eavesdropping on any of their conversations. He mimicked the older man’s skepticism and folded his arms as well. “So you can believe in ghosts and demons, but cloning humans is just way too far-fetched for you?”

“Well, can you blame him, Russ?” 2D spoke up. “I mean, cloning people is the kind of stuff you hear in sci-fi movies. Sorry if it’s hard for us to really believe what you’re claiming about Zero. Scientists managed to clone that sheep up in Scotland a few years back. No way they could figure out cloning a human in a short time.”

Stu’s random knowledge of cloning technology tripped Russel up for a moment, but he was quick to recover. “There’s no other clear explanation for Zero’s existence,” he told them. “I wasn’t with any woman a decade ago to have any kind of children with. I would be a bit too young for that stuff. You two didn’t read those diary entries from that crazy doctor. And all that shit with that SCP Foundation. They had all the materials they needed to clone me if they couldn’t get their hands on the original.”

“SCP Foundation?” the two men repeated in equal confusion.

“Alright, Hobbs. We all know you have a few screws loose, but you’re spewing utter nonsense now,” Murdoc dismissed. “This SCP Foundation shit sounds like a load of complete bullocks.”

“Muds,” Russel said as he furrowed his thick brow. “Why would I even lie about shit like this? What do I have to gain from it? You read Doctor McDonald’s letter yourself and I’ve read the documents on Zero’s classification that came with him. I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried or wanted to.”

“How do you know that these people aren’t throwing your through the ringer with all this crazy science talk?”

2D was quiet during Murdoc and Russel’s heated conversation. He learned not to interfere while the older men talked or he would face an onslaught of insults thrown his way. His ears picked up something hidden beneath their discussion and he took a chance with the foreseen consequences. “Shh!” 2D sharply.

Immediately, Murdoc and Russel went silent. Their eyes rested on him, catching their undivided attention.

“Do you guys hear that noise?” he then asked.

There was a quick moment of quietness as their ears strained to hear what the young man was saying: a strange noise outside the Winnebago. It sounded like soft yet hallow pattering again metal. Russel held breath for a second. He prayed that it wasn’t Noodle or Zero at the door. Murdoc stood to his feet with a grunt, went for the door, and pushed it open using his left hand.

“The hell?” 2D and Russel heard Murdoc say as he took a step back into the vehicle.

The creator of the odd sound was actually Kitty, who clambered up the three red carpeted stairs and ran to Russel’s side. She clung to his right leg by digging her soft felt claws into the tough fabric of his jeans. Exhaling a lung full of nervous air, Russel relaxed and held out an open hand to the stuffed animal. Kitty, understanding his gesture, climbed upon his hand eagerly. He brought his hand to left shoulder, which Kitty hopped over and sat comfortably by his head. He didn’t mind the moving stuffed animal listening to their conversations since she proved to possess some type of intelligence.

“What the hell is that thing?” Murdoc asked when he returned to his seat. “Did a demon possess one of Noodle’s toys again?”

“That’s the stuffed kitty-cat that Zero came with, isn’t it?” 2D mused curiously. “It’s looking much cleaner than before. Did you do that, Russel?”

“Yeah,” Russel replied. “Don’t worry. She’s harmless and can understand human speech. She won’t hurt any of us.”

Kitty nodded her round head in agreement.

“Zero and Kitty are anomalies that the SCP Foundation creates or collects,” Russel explained. “What they do with these anomalies, I’m not sure. What I do know is that some insane doctor wanted me, couldn’t get me, and made Zero instead.”

The bassist eyed up the stuffed animal. “And how do you know all of this?” he asked, suspicious. “Don’t tell me that kid’s toy told you the secrets of a cliché unknown group of wacky scientists.”

“Well, yes and no,” Russel answered. “While I don’t know everything about this SCP Foundation, Kitty had a hidden flash drive inside her and I went over Zero’s official documents. I think that Doctor McDonald wanted me, us, to know about that place. This Doctor Eugene Kane,” He paused for a moment. Saying that name brought the taste of bile to the back of his throat. He then continued, “He wanted me for God knows what experiments he had planned. He went on and on about my demon possession, rambling about powers and shit on that flash drive.”

“And where is this flash drive you’re going on about?” the older man interrogated.

“Gone. Destroyed it and threw the pieces into the landfill,” was his monotonous answer.

“Wait. Now that both Zero and Russel are in the same place, won’t those SCP people come here looking for them?” 2D spoke up again. “I mean, it’s not like Gorillaz is some kind of hidden indie band anymore. Everyone and their mum knows our names.”

Murdoc threw his hands in the air. “Great, now a bunch of crazy ass doctors will be on our asses!” he snapped, “That doctor screwed us over! I wanted to get rid of it. Russ, you even hesitated when I brought a pistol to take out that little demon! Don’t you dare lie to me and say that you actually want that thing around here!”

Russel held his tongue and turned his head away. Fuck, he wasn’t right but he wasn’t wrong either. His feelings about Zero had only grown more conflicted.

“I say we get rid of that little monster by tossing it in the Hell Hole,” Murdoc suggested with a smug grin on his face. “It will be quick and painless of it. No guilt from the whole ordeal and our cursed lives will return back to normal.”

The mention of the unholy gateway to the demonic depths of Earth located in the basement of Kong had Russel staring at Murdoc. He refrained from making any type of commentary though.

“B-But,” 2D stammered while he fidgeted in his seat. “Zero has been kind of like a blessing for us. He’s been keeping Noodle company when we couldn’t. He’s around her age and both got attached to each other already. I’m not sure what would happen if we split them up right now…”

“She’ll be fine,” Murdoc said and got back to his feet once again. “Kids bounce back quick and Noodle won’t remember any of this in the future. Let’s go get the demon and finally put an end to this nonsense.”

Before the other men responded in any way, Kitty leapt off Russel’s shoulder and landed on the floor with a stumble. The stuffed cat ran up to Murdoc’s right leg and started battering at the bassist’s jean clad leg with her paws. It seemed to be a silent protest against his decision for her friend.

Murdoc was fast to snatch up the bothersome toy in his hand. Kitty struggled in his grasp, scratching at his hand and thrashing about. Without a word, he opened up one of the many windows that the Winnebago had, chucked the stuffed animal out the vehicle, and slammed the window shut.

“Why did you do that, Muds?” asked 2D, a bit miffed. “Kitty obviously didn’t like what you were planning. She was agreeing with me. You can’t just toss people out for disagreeing with you.”

“Yes I can and I just did,” said Murdoc. “Now are we going to get rid of this damn demon kid or what?”

Soon, 2D stood up from his seat. “Well, I’m against the whole thing,” he admitted and crossed his arms. “Zero, clone or not, is his own person who deserves to live like the rest of us. I think that’s what his mum wanted us to get, y’know? These SCP people probably did a bunch of nasty stuff to Zero at that place and Kong is like a paradise to him. He’s happy here, Muds.” The tall man pointed a finger at Murdoc, his eyes narrowed, and he said, “You’re nothing but a heartless cunt, Murdoc. From drugging a kid to wanting to kill him, how do you even live with yourself?”

At the sign of defiance, Murdoc growled through a clenched jaw and lunged forward at 2D. His calloused hands wrapped around his slender neck and he tightened his grip in an instant. Pitiful squeak came out from 2D’s mouth and he tried to escape as Murdoc continued to strangle him. When 2D’s face began to change to a shade of purple, Russel shot up from his seat and tore the two apart as per usual when fights broke out between them. Red finger shaped bruises were already forming on the tall man’s pale skin and held onto a table to catch his lost breath. Murdoc’s chest heaved with every angry breath he took, glaring at him over the other man’s shoulder.

“Heartless cunt, am I?” Murdoc spat out. “Everything I do is for the good of this band. My band! And when I see an obvious threat to all my hard work, it has to be taken care of immediately. My band only has four members, and you all are being ungrateful shits for me trying to actually protect your sorry asses! I’m right when I say that demon will be the end of us all! Isn’t that right, Russel?”

Russel didn’t answer. All he could do was stare ahead in front of him out of the Winnebago’s large window while he stood between his band mates.

2D stood back up to his full height, rubbing his bruises with one hand. “Would you do the same thing if it was Noodle instead?” he uttered hoarsely his argument. “You only keep her around because she makes music for you. But you can’t use Zero so you want him dead and move on with your sorry life.” He stepped closer to the older man, only to be blocked off by Russel in his way. He continued, “Zero is sad. His mum is dead and his whole life is full of pain from those doctors. He knows nothing of the outside world and yet, he clicks with Noodle. She’s teaching him everything she knows and learns from us. Both of them are happy together. You’re a true heartless cunt if you want to destroy some kids’ happiness for your gain, Murdoc. Right, Russ?”

Again, Russel was silent. Both men assumed his silence was him agreeing to their side of the situation and their argument went on. Their raised voices grated on his ears, causing a massive headache to form in his temple. He was completely conflicted. With all the new information on Zero and an assortment of thoughts that clashed against each other, everything was quickly coming to a head and growing out of control.

Seeing that their main focus wasn’t answering them, Murdoc and 2D shouted in unison, “Russel!”

“ _I don’t know!_ ” Russel yelled at the top of his lungs. His sudden booming voice rang out through the entirety of the Winnebago and even the carpark. It snapped the two men out of their argument in an instant. 2D raised his hands in defense and took an uneasy step back. Murdoc went quiet and wide eyed at the shout. Recollecting his temper, Russel pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed loudly. “Look, I don’t fucking know enough about Zero to pick a side,” he confessed, dropped his hand to his side, and focused on the other men. “Right now, Zero is staying with us for the time being. I’ll decide what we’ll do with Zero in the future.”

2D’s eyes lit up and he grinned. Murdoc scoffed, crossed his arms, and stared over to the left with his lips upturned into a snarl.

Russel then faced Murdoc directly. “Muds, I don’t want you pulling any more stunts on Zero,” he stated. “No drugging or trying to kill him in any way. I don’t want you laying a single finger on that kid, got it?”

Murdoc didn’t reply. All he did was glance over at the larger man and snorted in displeasure.

Russel soon stood toe to toe with Murdoc. Their faces were almost touching and he could smell the man’s rancid breath. His fist grabbed his inverted cross necklace and pulled tight, catching Murdoc’s breath right as he inhaled. “I mean it, Murdoc,” he warned. “If Zero ends up dead or missing, I’ll shove my foot so far up your ass that you’ll be tasting rubber for the next several months.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Murdoc grumbled and snatched back his necklace. “Don’t expect me to be nice to the little freak or whatever.”

He accepted his answer and he stepped back. That was the best thing he was getting out of that moldy slice of white bread. Asking for a better answer would probably cause him to unexpectedly implode on himself. Though that wouldn’t be a terrible thing if that happened.

“What we said here doesn’t leave this place,” Russel informed the others, pointing a finger at both of them. “I don’t want neither Noodle or Zero finding out about any of this shit.”

“My lips are sealed shut, Russ,” 2D said, then he made a zipping motion over his closed mouth.

“Got it, Muds? Promise me you won’t say a damn thing to those kids.”

All he did was mumble something unintelligible under his breath.

Russel rolled his eyes in slight frustration. Dealing with this guy was like pulling teeth without local anesthetic. How he managed to stay in the same building without completely murdering him was saying something about his overall patience. And even his patience for Murdoc’s bullshit was wearing thin day after day. “Good,” he concluded without Murdoc’s reply. “We’re done here. I don’t want to come back to the Stank Bus to talk about those crazy ass doctors anymore.” Russel then exited the Winnebago, finished speaking to the both of them.

2D went for the vehicle’s door also but as he passed the bassist, he childishly stuck his tongue out at him. In swift motion, Murdoc swatted the man on the back of his head with his open hand. The young man yelped on contact then he hurried off in the direction of his room. He watched the twiggy singer scramble away away like a wounded puppy, which made Murdoc smile with a small chuckle. At least taking his anger out on that moving palm tree made him feel a bit better.

  
  



End file.
